Feel The Rush
by Moonlight Silhouette
Summary: Suze Simon is psyched to be chosen to star in Paul Slater's new music video. Then she meets the choreographer for the video, a certain Jesse de Silva, and spending a few weeks on Paul's set seems a whole lot better. JS
1. Chapter One

**A.N - Another story. I bet you're all getting sick of them. I liked this one anyway. I hope you do to.**

**Chapter goes out to Moondancing Millie, who gave me the idea of a to-do list (and the first thing for Suze to do) and Anthony who gave me character names and the second to-do. Lol.**

**Disclaimer : I own nothing. Meg Cabot owns all.**

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_**Suze Simon's To-Do List :**_

_1. Pick up Mom's Dry Cleaning on the way home from the studio_

_2. Pick up Andy's groceries_

_3. Practise for Audition._

**Chapter One**

Sometimes, I hated my mom so much for moving us to California. It was hard to dance when the sun was beating down on you and the air felt thick enough to cut with a knife. It was much easier to dance in the breezy studios back in New York. Though, to be fair, this studio did have Air Conditioning.

Nevertheless - air conditioning or not - I was still sweating a _lot_ by the time practise was through.

It was worth it, though. Despite how disgusting you could feel after two hours of non-stop dancing - it was worth it just to feel the freedom of loosing yourself in the music and the satisfaction when you land a move perfectly.

I picked up my dance bag and quickly found my drink bottle, greedily squirting the water into my mouth as I left the room. The sea breeze that hit me as soon as I left the building was a welcome relief, the coolness of the air soothing my over-worked body.

"See you, Suze!" Jules, another dancer called out to me as she began to walk home.

I waved at her before turning in the opposite direction and was greeted by the wide, blue Pacific Ocean. Even though I'd lived here for two years, I couldn't get over the beauty of it. Especially at this time of the day when the sun was just beginning to dip under the horizon.

I graduated from the Junipero Serra Mission Academy two months ago. Now it was mid-August and I was getting in as much dancing as I could before I left to go to college in the fall.

There was a rumour going around the dance studios that Paul Slater was looking for dancers to appear in his latest video. While Paul Slater was, quite possibly, the hottest guy I'd seen in a while, I wasn't exactly the biggest fan of his music. The cheesy pop stuff was so nineties. I was only hoping for the chance because it would get me recognition.

I hoped.

My step-brother had the car today. Why, I have no idea. Especially considering Mom and Andy had given me the chores to do. I had to walk home whilst carrying Mom's dry cleaning and a bag of ingredients for Andy's latest Ackerman recipe.

And my house was on top of a huge hill.

When I reached the house - eventually - I dropped off everything in the kitchen and went straight upstairs to my room, clicking on my audition track and began to count myself in.

My dance instructor was very strict, having been a dancer herself, she knew what it took to make it in the business. She advised us to practise as much as we possibly could. I hated her for it sometimes.

I loved dancing in my dance clothes. They were so much more comfortable than any of the other clothes I wore. Simple tracksuits and a tank top. Lounging-around-the-house clothes.

I danced until I felt my legs shaking with the strain of it. Turning and jumping before collapsing on my bed, the music blaring out of the speaker.

"Suze!" Jake shouted from my door.

I turned off the CD player.

"What?" I asked.

"Dinner's ready," he told me. "I don't know why you have that music on so loud anyway - I was calling you for ages. I swear, when you start dancing you drift off into a world of your own."

I smiled and moved to put on a baggy sweatshirt, before going downstairs to join the family. Dinner was always a really big deal in the Ackerman household. Though the food was always way better than the take-outs we tended to get back in New York. Andy was a great cook.

Dinner was unusually quiet that night. David was away at camp and Brad was out with God knows who. It was only my Mom, Andy, Jake and me for dinner.

It was Andy who felt the need to break the peaceful silence.

"So, Suze," he asked. "How's your dancing going?"

I smiled at his attempt to seem interested in my life. He really didn't have to do that anymore. My mom and him had been married for two years already _and_ I was a legal adult now. If I didn't like him, I could just leave.

"It's good," I told him anyway. "The studio are having auditions for something next week. They didn't tell us what, just told us to have a piece ready."

"What do you think it is?" Andy carried on.

"There are rumours that it's for a chance to dance in Paul Slater's music video." I explained. "Though why Paul Slater would want a dancer from Carmel, I don't know."

Jake snorted and Andy glared at him.

"Well, you're a shoe-in." Andy told me making me focus my attention on the plate in front of me. I hated Andy giving me compliments. "You've been dancing how long?"

"Fourteen years," it was my mom who answered. "Suzie had her first ballet lesson when she was four."

"Everyone has their first ballet lessons when they're four." I muttered under my breath. If anyone heard me they didn't say anything.

Thankfully, I hadn't stuck to ballet. I'd moved onto the edgier Street Dancing when I was thirteen.

After dinner, I loaded up the dishwasher and returned to my bedroom. I left the dancing this time, and instead just lay back on my bed going over my routine in my head. It had to be perfect by next week.

----

Normally, Andy made us get Summer jobs during the summer. Jake was back to working at the Pebble Beach and Golf Resort where I normally worked as a babysitter. This year, however, I had been let off, to focus on my dancing.

And the fact that it was on a scholarship that I got into California School for the Arts. Mom and Andy were just happy that they had one less child to worry about paying college funds for.

As always, weeks during the summer passed by slowly. This week was an exception.

My life was a whirlwind of dance classes, rehearsals and practising up until the day of the audition when everything came to an abrupt standstill. My entire dance class came to the studio as usual, and we were told to sit in silence until our name was called.

One by one students left, and they didn't return to the waiting room, instead leaving to either go home for the day, or wait in a different room.

Those of us left behind were forced to wait quietly, the occasional squeals of 'Oh my God, I knew it! I so knew it!' managing its way into the room.

Then my name was called.

My dance instructor called out my name with an encouraging smile - which was more then she had done with some of the others.

I was ushered into a big room where three people were sat in front of a large stage which they were gesturing for me to go on.

"Name." One of them barked.

"Susannah Simon." I said clearly.

"Audition piece?" Another one hissed, leaving only the man in the middle with yet to say anything.

"Here." I handed them my CD and they put it into the portable CD player sitting on the table in front of them.

"Ready?" The man in the middle finally spoke in a familiar voice as he leaned forward in his chair.

"Yeah," I breathed out.

It was time to slip into dance-mode.

I heard the first beats of music began to play and I launched myself into my routine. I span around in circles with more gusto then I ever had before. I owned the stage, if I could say so myself.

I barely registered the sound of clapping when my CD came to a stop and I finished elegantly with a step-bull-change, managing to keep my balance as I did so.

"Very good." The man in the middle stood up, letting me catch a look at his face when it wasn't hidden by the harsh sunlight that was streaming through the room.

It was Paul Slater after all.

"How would you like a part in my new video?" He asked.

I had to hold back a squeal.

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed. "I'd love it!"

I saw Paul's mouth twist into a smirk.

"We'll be in touch."

I nodded enthusiastically and tore out of the room, straight into the arms of my dance instructor.

"You got in?" She asked me in her thick Russian accent. Yes, my teacher was Russian.

"Yes!"

"I knew you would."

I smiled, unable to wipe the grin off my face as I joined the room where the other girls who had been in before me were waiting.

"Can you believe that?" Brooke asked me. "Paul Slater actually saw us dance."

"I know," I smiled again. "Can you believe I got picked?"

Brooke's mouth dropped open in disgust as the other girls crowded around me excitedly.

"You got picked?" She asked me, her voice drowning out every other.

I nodded again, the smile slipping from my face.

Brooke was a typical Californian girl. Blonde hair, tanned, tall, toned. She surfed whenever she wasn't dancing. And she had hated me all through High School. Or the two years I was there, at least.

She made a disgusted noise.

"Whatever." She grabbed her dance bag and walked out of the door which led straight onto the street. "I'm out of here."

I could hear the screech of a car braking.

"Brooke, no!" I called.

It was too late. The car's horn beeped incessantly as the driver was thrown against it with the force that the car had shuddered to a halt. The windscreen had cracked and Brooke was lying on the road in a growing puddle of blood, eyes staring open, unseeing.

We all ran out to do whatever we could to help.

"It's no use," one of the girl's who was trained in first aid announced. "She's dead."

Which I could have told everybody. Considering the girl in question had stood up and dusted herself off daintily, not realising that half of her body had been left behind.

"Um, ow," she shouted at the driver who was paying no attention to the girl he couldn't see. "That hurt!"

She froze when she realised she wasn't being acknowledged.

"Hello?" She waved a hand in front of the horrified driver's face. "You are so going to have to give me compensation or whatever."

She followed his eyes to the sight of her own body lying crumpled on the floor.

"No way." She whispered.

Oh yeah. Brooke was a ghost. Who I now had to deal with - being a mediator.

And my day was going so well.


	2. Chapter Two

**A.N - Thanks for your great response. You should be happy to know that Jesse makes an appearance in this chapter. I liked writing it. It was fun. Lol. Enjoy it. :)**

**( For Emily :) )**

**And, another thing, I don't really like OC's much. So if I introduce any (which I do in this chapter) they wont have major parts. Lol. That's all.**

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_**Suze Simon's To-Do List :**_

_1. Mediate Brooke_

_2. Pack and leave for L.A_

_3. Meet with the choreographer._

**Chapter Two**

As it turned out, mediating Brooke was pretty easy. She told me she was scared of her younger sister stealing her favourite necklace. All I had to do was convince her mom to bury her in it. It was such a Brooke reason to hang around. Especially since it made it so much harder on me, to try and get Brooke's mom to take my opinion when she'd never seen me before.

I was a new girl to the dance studio that Brooke went to and Brooke had recently filled me in on how much the necklace meant to her.

Yeah, right.

But, as I said, it was easily fixed - even if I did have to pretend I was Brooke's best friend to her mom - and three days after Brooke's death, after the funeral, Brooke had disappeared.

Which left me to finally be able to celebrate the fact that Paul had chosen me - _me_ - to perform in his video. It would be just the qualification I would need to definitely hold my place in College.

Paul had quickly been in touch with us. A week after the audition a letter had arrived - not by post, delivered by Paul's personal driver - giving me the details of the video shoot. I was wanted in Los Angeles the next week to start learning the routine. And I was allowed to bring another three people with me - hotel rooms paid for and everything.

And no, I didn't bring my step-brothers.

Instead, I took my best friends, CeeCee and Adam who had stuck with me since I first moved to Carmel two years ago.

I let my mom have the other space, but she didn't want to be separated from Andy for weeks so the space has been left unfilled. Unless mom ended up giving it to Jake. Brad wouldn't be allowed to go - in order to get into college he had to take post-grad classes to make up his credits.

And now I was dressed in my dance clothes waiting for someone to introduce me to the choreographer. I only had a week and a half before we were scheduled to shoot. I needed to get learning.

"Ah, Susannah Simon?" A woman - who's hair was pulled back way too tight - spoke with a nasally voice. At my nod, she continued. "Follow me and I'll introduce you to the other dancers."

I followed obediently as she led me through the busy studio into a room where three other people were waiting. And got the shock of my life.

"Gina?!" I exclaimed.

"Suze!!" She screamed right back and we threw ourselves into each others arms happily.

Gina was my best friend when I lived in Brooklyn. We'd been going to dance classes together since we were four.

"Are you a dancer -" I began only to have Gina finish.

"In Paul Slater's video?" She nodded and pointed at me in a silent question.

I nodded frantically too.

"Girl, these are the male dancers." She winked an orange-coloured eyelid at me. "Our partners for the shoot."

I turned and smile at the two men who'd been standing there watching us with bemused expressions on their faces. I blushed a little bit. I'm not really one to kind of behave like that.

"That's Cole from the guy's group back at the dance studio in Brooklyn," She introduced pointing to a tall guy with that darkish blonde kind of colour hair and blue eyes. I nodded and waved before turning my attention to the second boy who looked somewhat familiar. "And that's Bryce, he says he'd from down your way. Carmel, is it?"

"Hey, Bryce!" Wow. Bryce Martinson. "I haven't seen you since you transferred from the Mission, just after I moved to Carmel. You dance?"

He looked embarrassed and ran his hand through his hair.

"Strictly ghetto," he joked. "Break dancing stuff. It was perfect for what Paul has planned for this video so, I thought, why not?"

I laughed.

"Well," Gina whistled. "Looks like Paul didn't look very far for dancers. Brooklyn and Carmel - that's all."

I nodded.

"Yeah," I agreed with a shrug.. "Guess he got bored of looking."

"Girl, we're on opposite sides of the map."

She had a point.

We were interrupted from our reunion by the door opening and closing. I turned around to face the front of the room - which was lined with mirrors - laughing. My laughter was cut short when I saw the guy standing there with an easy smile on my face.

He was breath-taking. Totally hot. Good-looking. Take your pick. What I said before? About Paul being the hottest guy I'd seen in a while? Yeah, that was so not true anymore. It was this guy.

"I take it you've all met by now?" He raised a scarred eyebrow as he spoke with an underlying Spanish tone. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gina - who totally had a thing for latino guys - blatantly checking him out and having no shame doing it whatsoever.

I smiled at her. She hadn't changed a bit. She was just slightly more confident - which tended to come when you survived High School.

"Uh huh. Cole, Bryce, Suze and I'm Gina." she told him, pointing at each of us as she called our name. "We all know each other now. However, we don't know you."

The guy smiled.

"I'm Jesse," he told us easily. "The choreographer."

"So, wait," Gina carried on. "We get to work with you? Every day, for the next two weeks."

He looked at each of us in turn and smiled.

"Yeah, that's right." his gaze stopped on me. "Suze?"

"Yeah?" I asked coolly. There's no point in letting him know how interested I was. It's not like we could do anything about it.

"Your name," he began. "Short for, Susan, perhaps?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Susannah, as in 'Don't you -"

"'Cry for Me,'" he finished, smiling. "Yeah, I know the song."

Gina nudged me and gave me an impressed look. I shrugged uneasily.

"Right then," Jesse clapped his hands and took his teaching position at the front of the class. "We'll start easy today. Ease you all into this."

There was scoffs from the boys causing Jesse to raise his eyebrow again.

_Swoon._

"Cole, Bryce?" He asked them. "Is there a problem?"

It was Cole who answered. Having not heard him speak before, I was shocked at how deep his voice was.

"No," he insisted. "No problem. Only, you don't have to go easy on us." He puffed out his chest. "We can take it."

The rest of us laughed.

"Warm up," Jesse ordered calmly, dismissing us.

Gina and I went through the warm up stretches we'd done together since kindergarten, when we started this dancing thing, before we launched into our talent-show routine. The one we'd performed for our middle school talent show and won first place for.

It was funny how easily the steps all came back to me. I twirled to the floor as Gina twirled in the air and we landed, standing, together in time to finish with our Beyonce-style move - which we came up with _way _before she did - and ended, out of breath, with our hands linked between us and the other one in the air in a ta-da motion.

Laughter managed to escape from us as the sound of clapping and whoops from our dance partners brought us back to now.

"Wow," Cole stuck his hand out for me to shake. "I look forward to working with you."

"Same here." I took it and shook it heartily.

Jesse clapped slowly with a smile on his face as he looked at me - which was a shock. Gina normally got all the guys - any guy - she had her eye on. And she definitely had her eye on Jesse.

"You really can take it," he gathered, a smile itching at the corner of his mouth. "You guys warmed up?"

Gina and I nodded, looking at each other and trying to contain our laughter.

"Well then, let's get started."


	3. Chapter Three

**A.N - Thanks o everyone who reviewed chapter two. I'm glad you like this fic. I like writing it. (Though I like Te Amo, Querida more). Lol. I'll explain my reasonings behind the end of this chapter, next chapter. I hope you like it though.**

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**_Suze Simon's To-Do List :_**

_1. Stop thinking about Jesse._

_2. Stop thinking about Jesse._

_3. Practise routine - whilst not thinking about Jesse._

**Chapter Three**

I'd been around hot guys before. I mean, many people consider my step-brothers hot - ew - and I'd been on dates with good-looking guys - Bryce being one of them, before his dead ex-girlfriend messed everything up for us and he transferred.

So, why was being around Jesse bothering me so much? I could hardly concentrate on my routine. Which didn't help things because it only made Jesse come and go through each step with me personally.

Gina had backed away from Jesse. I guess that she saw that I liked him - like, really liked him - and stepped out of the way for me to have a chance. I wanted to scream 'Thank-you!!' and hug her like I had when I saw her again.

That had been two days ago, when we all met each other. Bryce was incredibly patient with me, considering I messed up the dance all the time in rehearsals with Jesse, and was fine when it was just the four of us practising. I guess he thought I had some strange form of stage-fright.

The first night, I'd gone with Cee Cee, Adam, Gina, Bryce and Cole to a nearby club. Cole and Bryce had gotten hold of Fake I.D's and kept buying us alcohol. We all woke up with massive headaches, and Jesse wasn't impressed.

He'd worked us really hard that day. As a punishment for punishing our bodies with alcohol. Or something like that.

Now, I was trying really hard to impress him - I really was. Only, having Jesse around made me lose my concentration. Which is why what happened just three days in to our rehearsal schedule was probably my fault.

Bryce and I had just done our freestyle part - the dance moves in this video reminded me of the background of Eminem's _Just Lose It_, Paul obviously not being original enough to think things up himself - which ended in Bryce holding me in the air - which always reminded me of Dirty Dancing.

Bryce held me in the air easily and I was focusing on my form - pointed toes, body tension, you know, all the stuff they teach you in 7th grade gym. It was fine, the first time we'd properly nailed it, until Jesse decided to make himself known. He clapped enthusiastically.

"That's it guys!" He praised. "You got it!"

I lost my concentration, and fell forward out of Bryce's hands. Now I understood why they practised it in the water in the film.

I trust Bryce completely - as a dancer, you learn to trust your partners quickly. I knew he'd come through for me. Which he did. He managed to catch me before my body slammed into the floor. Only it wasn't quick enough to save my face, which crashed onto the mat we were standing on heavily.

My eyes watered as I was hit with a rush of pain, centred on my nose.

"Susannah," Jesse's voice sounded right next to my ear. "Are you alright?"

I brought my hand up to my nose and brought it away to find it covered in blood.

"Aw, man." I complained, cupping my hands around my nose to stop the blood from going everywhere.

"Suze," Bryce's face was pale. "I'm so sorry."

"It wasn't your fault." I managed to get out, blood dripping into my mouth as I opened it.

Gross. I hated the taste of blood.

"Come on," Gina tried to help me up. "You should go to the emergency room."

"I'll take her." Jesse helped Gina get me up off the floor.

"Guys!" I tried to tell them. "I'm fine! It's just a nosebleed."

"It might be broken." Jesse replied, concerned.

"Yeah," Gina put in. "Then you'd get to wear a pretty nose-cast on Paul Slater's video, for the whole world to see."

I groaned.

Great.

I felt so stupid, clutching a towel to my nose as I walked through the studio towards Jesse's car. Everyone I passed turned to look at me - including Paul Slater who was hidden in a corner with a blonde haired girl.

I blushed, my face going as red as the blood that was dripping out of my nose.

"I'm sorry about this," I told him in the car, the radio turned down so I could hardly hear the song that was playing.

"It's not your fault," Jesse shook it off, his fingers clenching the steering wheel so hard that they went white. "If anything, it was Bryce's. What was he thinking? He should have been focusing on you. He should have been able to tell that you were falling."

"No!" I hastened to correct him. "It wasn't Bryce's fault. Bryce stopped it from being much worse. If it wasn't for Bryce, my leg could be broken right now."

Jesse's grip loosened minutely and I sighed in relief.

"So, what happened then?" He asked. "You were fine and then you just fell."

I looked out of the window.

"Oh," I mumbled. "I just wasn't paying attention."

He sucked in a breath.

"Susannah, you must!" He exclaimed. "You must _always_ pay attention. You said yourself that it could've been much worse!"

Wow. Jesse was really concerned about me. The thought that he cared so much filled me with warm tingles.

"I'm sorry." I muttered again.

"We'll see how sorry you are when we find out how bad it actually is." Jesse spoke just loud enough for me to hear, a small smile gracing his features.

I smiled as well.

He pulled into the car park, quickly running around to my side of the car so that he could rush us into the emergency room.

I was surprised at how quickly they got a doctor to see me. My 'case' was hardly extreme. I swear that there were at least two gun-shot victims still waiting.

The doctor pulled the towel that was covered with blood away from my nose, tilting my head upwards as he examined it.

I hissed in a breath through my teeth when he probed my nose to see if it was tender - which it was. I could have told him that without him needing to poke at it. Jesse rushed to my side and grabbed my hand.

"Well," The doctor announced finally. "It's not broken. Though, you must have landed on it pretty hard. I'd say that you're lucky, Miss Simon."

I nodded and looked down at the floor.

"You're going to have to take it easy." He told me, writing down a prescription for painkillers. "Stay away from anything that could hurt that nose anymore than it is already."

I nodded again hiding my slight worry. Did this mean I couldn't dance? I needed to get the routine right. By next week.

"Don't worry about that." Jesse squeezed my hand. "I'll go over the routine with you. A few one-on-one classes. Without Bryce."

His face darkened at the mention of my dance partner's name.

"Jesse," I told him, squeezing his own hand. "It wasn't his fault."

"If you say so, querida." Jesse smiled at me, and kissed my hand before leaving to go and get my prescription with the doctor.

I watched him go with a sigh. I'm sure that Bryce was probably feeling really guilty about all of this. He didn't need Jesse breathing down his neck as well.

"He likes you, you know." I jumped at the sound of a feminine voice, turning around to see a beautiful tanned girl with black curls hanging down her back. "He doesn't call just anyone querida."

She was also glowing, which meant she was a ghost.

"How do you know?" I asked her.

She shrugged.

"I think a girl knows her brother." She smiled sadly before introducing herself. "I'm Josefina de Silva."

My mouth dropped open in shock.


	4. Chapter Four

**AN - Thanks to Em who spouted off the ideas for the phone call in this chapter. And thank you to everybody who reviewed. I'm glad you're liking this story. I'm sorry if there are any major bad typos - I can't see any, but it's also one in the morning.**

**Lol.**

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_**Suze Simon's To-Do List :**_

_1. Talk to Josefina._

_2. Catch up with Gina._

_3. Learn the routine!_

**Chapter Four**

"Wait." I told the beautiful ghost. "You're Jesse's sister?"

She nodded gravely.

"Yeah," She told me. "I died two years ago. Car accident."

"Why are you still, you know, here?" I asked. What are you supposed to say in a situation like this? Normally I was quite good at my job - mediating ghosts, that is. But never had it been in a situation this personal. Unless you counted the ghost of my dad, who was still here twelve years after his death.

"I'm not sure," Josefina came to sit by me. "I think it has something to do with Jesse. He was driving, that night, and he blames himself."

"Oh."

Poor Jesse. You'd never know that he'd been through something so horrible, looking at him.

"Yeah."

"I know this probably isn't the thing to talk about right now," I began nervously. I was so cold to even think about asking her this, but I couldn't help it. "But, why do you think that Jesse likes me?"

She smiled.

"He called you querida," she explained. "And I haven't seen him this happy in two years."

"What does querida mean?" I questioned.

She was about to answer when Jesse walked in, holding out my cell phone to me. I wasn't even aware that he had it to begin with.

"Who were you talking to, querida?" He asked me, smirking.

"Oh," I hastened to say. "No one."

"There's someone here for you to talk to then."

The huge grin on his face and the quiet laughter that escaped him had me suspicious and I took the phone with caution, throwing an apologetic look at Josefina.

"Hello?" I watched Josefina as she shimmered away.

"Oh my God, Suze!" Gina's voice boomed down the line. "I just made a complete fool of myself."

"What do you mean?"

Gina's confidence had always been amazing. For her to have made a fool out of herself … it had to have been something big.

"Jesse answered the phone, right?" She said.

"Yeah." I was hesitant.

Oh no. What had she done?

"Well," Gina explained. "Seeing as I thought_ you_ would be the one to answer _your _cell phone. I kind of said some things about Jesse, to him."

"What?!"

I glanced over at Jesse who was still laughing. Whatever she had said to him had to have been good. Which meant embarrassing for me.

"It wasn't a lot!" She reasoned. "Just that, well, he's hot. And you should go for it."

"Gina!" I exclaimed.

"I know," she told me. "I'm sorry. He knows now anyway, the ball's in his court whether or not he decides to ask you out."

I felt my cheeks burn red with Jesse's gaze on me. Gina's voice was so loud down the phone that I'm sure he could hear every word she was saying.

"Anyway," I heard a noise indicating that Gina had collapsed down on to a hotel bed. The boys were talking in the background, probably all hanging around in Gina's room. "The real reason I called, other than to talk about how fine our choreographer is, is that I called your mom, to tell her about your little fall -"

"Gina!" I exclaimed again, interrupting her. My mom worried so much when she heard about me hurting myself.

"Hey," I could almost see her holding her hands up in a show of apology. "Don't worry, she's not coming out here."

"Oh, thank God."

Jesse raised his eyebrow at me, only hearing my side of the conversation. Even I had to admit it was impossible for him to hear Gina's. At least, not all of it.

"Jake is though."

She sounded happy. I rolled my eyes. Of course she was happy, she and Jake had had a thing when she came to visit me in Carmel two summers ago.

"Oh," Gina sounded bored of talking to me now. "Bryce wants to ask you something. He's been begging me since Jesse first answered."

There was the sounds of a commotion as Gina threw the phone over to Bryce, who had dropped it in surprise.

"Suze?" I heard his voice over the line.

"Yeah Bryce," I greeted. "It's me. What's up?"

I saw Jesse's face instantly wipe out any trace of laughter, instead focusing all of his attention on me and, I'm sure, trying to listen to the entire conversation. Bryce's side of it included.

"Suze," Bryce said seriously. "I'm so sorry about dropping you."

"No," I waved it off. "It wasn't your fault. Really. It was mine."

I'm the one who had been thinking about a certain choreographer.

"Either way," he told me. "I'm sorry and I'd really like to take you out tonight. To apologise."

My mouth dropped open again.

"Like, a date?"

I cursed the words as soon as they fell out of my mouth. My voice was cracking and there was a smash as Jesse accidentally knocked down medical equipment to the floor, cursing quietly in Spanish as he bent to pick it up.

"Well, yeah." Bryce sounded nervous. "If you want."

I let a smile form on my lips.

"Yeah, sure." I told him. This would be a perfect way of getting Jesse to notice me - and the fact that people wanted to _date_ me. "Sounds good."

"Great." Bryce sounded happy. "I'll talk to you about it later?"

"Sure," I forced myself to keep the grin on my face. "Ask Gina to give you my number."

"Will do," he told me. "Bye Suze."

"Bye."

The click of the dial tone told me he'd hung up and I flicked the phone shut before shoving it into my tracksuit pocket.

"Ready to go?" Jesse asked tersely.

I nodded and jumped off of the examination table I'd been sitting on, following him out of the Accident and Emergency room as he waved goodbye to various doctors and nurses.

"Wait," I stopped. "What about my painkillers?"

"In the car." He told me shortly. "I put them there. I was there when your phone rang."

I _knew_ I hadn't given my cell to Jesse. I'd left it in his car instead. Though Jesse didn't sound too happy that he'd actually answered the phone.

I climbed into his car in silence, wincing as Jesse slammed the door shut when he slid in too.

The sound of the car starting made me jump. It was so loud in the awkward silence that had encompassed us.

"How did I get seen to so fast?" I asked him, my voice sounding shrill in the silence. I winced.

"I know a few people," he told me. "I'm training to be a doctor."

"Really?"

Wow, I could so see Jesse as a doctor. It explained his concern over my nose injury - which, as Gina had predicted, had been covered with a bandage. It was suppose to come off just before shooting for Paul's video was about to begin but, knowing me, it would be off in a few days - and his instructions to me in the car. You know, the whole keep your head back, pinch the bridge of your nose stuff.

"Yeah," the smile was back on Jesse's face. Doctoring was obviously something he loved. "The choreographing thing helps me to pay for the education."

He shrugged all of my wonder off. I wasn't going to drop the subject though. It was cool; Jesse was going to be a doctor! Doctor de Silva. I liked the sound of that. It kind of suited him.

"What are you doing tonight?"

His sudden change of subject startled me.

"Huh?" I asked intelligently.

He laughed.

"I heard you arrange a date," his fingers gripped the steering wheel tightly, "with Bryce. Is that for tonight?"

I shook my head silently.

"Good." He seemed genuinely pleased. Was he actually _jealous_ of Bryce? I didn't actually think that plan would work. "Then we can have time to practise the routine? See where you went wrong today?"

Oh, right. The dancing thing. He wasn't jealous; he just wanted to make sure he was doing his job correctly. Making sure we all knew the routine perfectly.

"Sure," I agreed, slightly disappointed. "I'll see you there."

He pulled up outside of the hotel I was staying at with everybody else.

"No," he told me, letting the engine idle. "I'll pick you up. They close the studio when everyone goes home for the day. I will be taking you to my apartment."

I got out of the car in shock.

A whole night, alone, in Jesse's apartment. With him and me. Going over what I'd done wrong today. Oh no. Does that mean that he'd be dancing with me?

"Is seven okay, querida?" He asked innocently.

I glanced towards the clock on the dashboard. It was half five. I had an hour and a half to shower, eat and prepare myself for this.

"Uh-huh," I answered coolly. "Seven is fine."

"Good." He flashed his blinding smile at me. "I'll meet you here."

Without another word he drove away leaving me standing motionless on the sidewalk outside of the hotel.

A whole evening with Jesse. And now I only had an hour and twenty nine minutes to get prepared.

My eyes widened and I turned and ran into the hotel quickly. I had to get ready. Now.


	5. Chapter Five

**A.N - Sorry for the delay, guys. I finally got my hands on a copy of Eclipse. And I read that instead of writing. I'm sorry. I tried to make this a good chapter anyway, to make up for it. I like it. Hope you do too.**

**xD**

* * *

_**Suze Simon's To-Do List :**_

_1. Stay calm._

_2. Stay focused._

_3. Apply lip gloss._

**Chapter Five**

The clock on my hotel's bedside table flashed eighteen-forty-seven. In normal time, that would be 6:47. In the evening. Meaning I had thirteen minutes before Jesse would be picking me up. No more, no less. Jesse had this thing about punctuality.

Thirteen minutes and I had nothing to wear. It's that number - it's jinxed. I bet by the time the clock clicks forward to forty-eight minutes past everything will suddenly become clear.

Or, maybe not.

I groaned in the empty room, clothes strewn everywhere. Twelve minutes to go.

It didn't help that I was delayed about half an hour. Gina had been waiting in my room when I got back from the hospital.

"Nice accessory." She had laughed, pointing at my nose. "I hear that they're in this season - perfect way to win Jesse's heart."

Well, yeah. He's training to be a doctor. He should love my not-quite-broken nose.

"Ha ha." I said dryly, turning my attention to my wardrobe.

"Straight for the clothes?" Gina whistled. "Wow, hot date tonight?"

I smiled. Gina, seeing it, squealed.

"I knew it!" She whooped. "Bryce, right? He asked you out?"

I flushed bright red.

"Gina," I hissed, throwing a pair of jeans to the floor. "Keep it down. No, I'm not going out with Bryce."

Her pretty face scrunched up in confusion.

"But, he asked you out, right?"

"Well, yeah." I told her. "He said he'd call me later."

"Oh."

Gina flopped back down on to my bed, eyeing me critically.

"So," she began slowly. I sighed. "What's all this about."

"Extra practise with Jesse." I sounded cool about it. "Make up what I missed earlier."

Gina's eyes bulged.

"No way!" She exclaimed. "You and Jesse?"

I nodded.

"Our choreographer?"

I nodded again.

Gina held up her hand for a high-five.

"Wow, who knew you had it in you." She mused. "So, you're going where? The studio?"

My eyes flittered back to my wardrobe.

"Not the studio," I muttered keeping my attention on my clothes. "More like his apartment."

I winced, waiting for the screams of excitement to come. I turned around when there'd been silence for at least a minute - which was quite extraordinary, for Gina to stay quiet that long.

"His apartment?" She spoke the words slowly, coming out of her catatonic state. "You and Jesse are going to be alone in his apartment?"

Her voice raised on the last part of the question. I braced myself again. I could feel it coming.

"Oh my God!"

Gina started jumping enthusiastically on the bed.

"Suze!" She attacked me in a hug. "I'm so proud of you, girl. You scored an invite to the apartment that belongs to the hottest guy any of us has seen in years. Why are you still letting me stay here? You have to be ready by - when, exactly?"

"Seven." I muttered. I think she burst my eardrum.

"Suze!" She scolded. "It's six now! You let me waste half an hour of your primping time?"

She raced out of the room.

"I'm leaving now," She called. "Have fun tonight. And I want every single detail the second you get home!"

The door slammed shut behind her.

Which left me here, fifty minutes after her exit from my room, with nothing to wear.

I knew I was being stupid. It's not like this was a date, or anything. I should just pull on my dance sweats.

I resigned myself to the task with a sigh. Okay, dance sweats it was. Teamed up with my favourite black tank top and I was set.

My shoes were on, ready to wait downstairs in the lobby, when I caught sight of myself in the mirror.

My hair. I hadn't done anything about my hair. Why had I wasted so much time on _clothes_?

It took me longer than it should have to decide to pull my hair back in a ponytail. I was being ridiculous. These were all simple decision that I did for every dance rehearsal. It just so happens that this one time I was going to be alone. With the hottest dance instructor around.

My heartbeat picked up.

Calm, Suze. I told myself. Calm.

I criticised myself in the mirror. I had five minutes until Jesse would pull up to the hotel. I glared at the mirror, cursing silently as I pulled out my mascara and swooped it on as professionally as I could in a rush. Next came out my lip-gloss and I applied it to my lips, smacking them together before smiling when I was finished.

There, finally ready.

I caught sight of the clock.

Ready, but two minutes late already. In the time it took me to call an elevator …

I switched off the light and locked my door. I had a choreographer to meet.

--- --- ---

Jesse was waiting downstairs for me, sitting on a couch in reception, arms spread out along the top, attracting too much attention from the female receptionist. He smiled when he saw me.

"Hey," he greeted, standing up and walking towards me. "There you are. Ready?"

I nodded, my eyes catching glimpses of the white bandage on my face as I moved my head.

Grimacing, I realised how I must look. There was me, dressed in sweats with a bandage on my face, and there was the receptionist, blonde, busty and extremely attractive.

"Don't worry," Jesse whispered, misinterpreting my grimace. "It'll heal soon enough. You'll be fine when it comes to Paul's video."

I smiled tightly.

"Yeah," I choked out through the lump in my throat. "I know."

"Good."

He took my hand and squeezed it gently as he led me to his car, opening the door for me to get in.

I thanked him and took my place in the passenger seat as he jogged round to the drivers side.

"Ready?" He asked, strapping himself in.

I nodded.

As ready as I'll ever be.

Jesse started up the car and pulled out onto the road. I swallowed. Here goes.

--- --- ---

Twenty minutes later, we were still driving. We'd left the city of Los Angeles _ages _ago.

"How can you drive this far to work every day?" I asked him.

We'd been more or less silent in the car. Occasionally I'd change the radio station, turning the volume up when I found a song I liked.

"I don't." He told me. "I rent an apartment in the city. My family owns where I'm taking you now. It's not far away, only another five minutes." He shrugged. "This just has more room for us to dance."

"Oh." I breathed. "That makes sense."

Jesse laughed.

"I'm glad you think so."

It seemed that everybody was laughing at me today.

We fell into another comfortable silence as the car drove up quite a big driveway. My mouth fell open as I saw the building.

It wasn't big, not by any means. A small house was all it was. But it was beautiful. The small white house was surrounded by brilliant green shrubbery, all of which stood in front of the setting sun.

Jesse chuckled again.

"I know," he stated, cutting off the engine. "I love this place. It's just a little get-away. My family live further south, they're not here, don't worry."

I breathed out a breath I'd been holding since he told me his family owned this place. I didn't realise that I was that scared about it.

"It's just a place for me and my sisters to use, if we want to get out of the city."

I nodded, returning my attention back to the house.

"Come on." Jesse took my hand and walked up to the front door, opening it and letting me inside ahead of him.

"The studio is towards the back of the house." He let go of my hand. "I'll meet you there. Do you want a drink?"

"Water." I said. "Please."

All I received as an answer was a chuckle. I shook myself out of my daze and walked in the general direction he'd pointed me in.

"Dance studio," I whispered to myself. "Dance studio."

Jesse was behind me again.

"Next door on your left, querida." He whispered in my ear, handing me a bottle of water.

"I was going to look there next." I blushed, revealing my lie.

"Sure." Jesse smiled. "Go on in."

I walked through the door he'd told me to, and was met with a studio that was probably way better equipped than the one on Paul's set. This dance studio looked very professional.

"Wow." I breathed, taking in the mirrored walls, the bars running parallel alongside them, the dance mats on the floor, and a few extras piled up in the corner.

"My whole family likes to dance." Jesse told me, taking in my awed expression. "My mother was a well-known ballerina, my father a composer of many of the ballets she danced in. All of my sisters have taken after her - in the dancing aspect, at least. Only Josefina -"

Jesse cut himself off, looking away from me.

I gave him his privacy and looked out of the French doors that led behind the house. I caught the sun glinting off the ground. Grass didn't sparkle like that …

My eyes widened as I realised what it was. There was a lake out there!

"Only Josefina did ballet." Jesse finished his sentence, turning my attention back towards him.

I stepped closer to him.

"Thank you." I whispered.

"For what?" He seemed confused.

"For bringing me here." I shrugged. "For sharing this with me. For caring enough to help me practise, even after I have this thing on my nose."

Jesse chortled deeply.

"It's the least I could do. It was in my class that you hurt yourself. My voice that made you fall …"

He trailed off as I rolled my eyes.

Why could no one accept that this was my fault?

My hand rested on his arm.

"Thank you." I repeated before kicking my shoes off towards the corner of the room where there was no equipment lingering. "Now. Can we start?"

Jesse's eyes sparkled in amusement as he shrugged off his jacket and shoes, leaving him in a black tank top that matched mine and jeans.

"We can."


	6. Chapter Six

**A.N - Warning. Cheesy Fluff ahead. Lol. A tiny bit of angst as well, but that's short lived.**

**I was thinking of branching out into the dramatic side of things with my next story. What do you think?**

**Oh, and Emily, see if you recognise some of Paul's lyrics. You should.**

* * *

_**Suze Simon's To-Do List :**_

_1. Dance._

_2. Rest._

_3. Dream._

**Chapter Six**

Two hours later, at half past nine, I had almost perfected the routine. It was just that damn jump that got me every time. Jesse had been extremely helpful … if not distracting. I hate to blame everything on him, but he _was _the reason that I kept faltering.

"You're getting better Susannah." Jesse smiled at me whilst trying to catch his breath.

"Thanks." I was equally out of breath. "You're a great teacher."

He smiled.

"You're a great student." He replied. "Hey, have you heard Paul's song? The one that this dance is going to be performed to?"

I shook my head.

"The only reason I've heard it is because I had to try and come up with dance moves for it." Jesse laughed. "Here, listen."

He played around with a nearby stereo, putting in the CD and fiddling with the volume dials.

The hard-hitting, yet so, so cheesy, 'rap' song began its beat, echoing around the studio we were in.

Jesse sat on the floor next to me, his arm brushing my own, as Paul began his vocals.

"_Yeah, yeah girl, when I saw your feet, walking along down that long, wide street_."

I cringed.

"Yeah," Jesse sympathised, leaning in closer. "I know. But, the beat is good enough, don't you think?"

I nodded my head in time with it.

"Yeah." I agreed. "Great dance beat."

Ignoring Paul's cringe-worthy words, I jumped up off the floor and began going through the dance again, Jesse standing up and instantly falling into sync with me. We mirrored each other's moves, watching each other in the mirror in front of us, before moving towards each other in canon, ending up with me in front of Jesse as we continued the routine.

It was getting closer and closer to The Jump. Yes, it was even capitalised now. I was ready. I felt sure I could do this. Jesse looked at me and nodded enthusiastically. He knew I could do it too.

I took my position, ready to make the run up into Jesse's arms. I let a care free smile form on my face as I ran towards Jesse.

And then, unbelievably, Paul ruined it. By saying the worst, most random line, anybody had ever said in a rap song before.

"_Fish! That is my favourite dish!_"

I ran into Jesse's chest, bursting with laughter.

"How," I began to ask through my giggles. "Did we get from girl-on-the-street, to fish?"

Jesse's arms banded around my waist as he looked down at me with amusement-filled eyes.

"I have no idea."

His words were deep and husky, his voice taking on a different tone as he leaned his head down towards me. I unconsciously licked my lips.

Oh my God. Jesse de Silva was going to kiss me! _Jesse de Silva _was going to -

My inner excitement piqued when Jesse's lips touched mine softly.

Jesse de Silva is kissing me!

I gave myself into the kiss, smiling when I felt Jesse's lips smile underneath my own. We pulled apart slightly.

"Wow." I whispered.

"Yeah."

Oh man. His voice, in that tone, was totally irresistible. Much more so than usual.

Then his lips were on mine again and we were kissing happily. Until the buzz of my cellphone vibrating against the floor, made me jump away in surprise.

Paul's cheesy rap song had melted into another embarrassing pop number. Honestly, how was this guy famous?

"You going to get that?" Jesse asked me, making no move to let me go.

"Nah." I shrugged. "Leave it go to voicemail."

Then I pulled him back down to meet my lips. Again.

Being kissed by Jesse just felt, in a word, amazing. So good in fact, that I couldn't even feel the slight pain in my nose when his own occasionally bumped it.

"I should take you home." Jesse said when he pulled away again. "Back to the hotel before Gina starts worrying about you."

He smiled at me.

"Don't worry about Gina," I told him. "She'll be willing to wait up all night to hear about this."

He chuckled.

"Still," he conceded. "It's pushing ten, and it's a half an hour drive. We should go."

"Fine."

I regretfully left Jesse's arms and walked to the entrance of the studio, where I'd dumped my jacket.

My cellphone was revealed when I lifted up said jacket and I picked it up, remembering my missed call from earlier.

I dialled my answer phone.

"You have one new message!" The automated voice cheerfully told me.

"First new message."

I almost dropped the phone in shock when I heard the voice that started speaking.

"Hey, uh, Suze. It's me, Bryce. Uh, I was just calling to arrange our, you know, date, but you're obviously busy, or not answering. I don't know. Just, um, call me back?"

His stuttering would have been endearing, If I hadn't spent the whole night with Jesse, who I was much more interested in than I was Bryce.

"Ready?" Jesse's voice sounded harsh.

"Um, yeah." I replied a little disoriented, pulling my jacket on and slipping my phone into my pocket. "I'm ready."

My smile went unreturned.

"Good." His eyes were almost black. What had I done wrong? "Meet me in the car. I have to lock up."

I nodded wordlessly and left the studio, following the hallway that led towards the front door. The car sitting in the driveway was taunting me, almost as if it knew how uncomfortable the journey back was going to be. I sighed as I climbed into the passenger side.

Okay, think Suze, think. What had I done between the end of our amazing kisses and now? I couldn't think of anything. Except check my voicemail.

My eyes widened as I realised - I swear that a light bulb turned on over my head.

Bryce's message!

I forgot how obnoxiously loud my phone could be. Jesse must have heard every word that he'd said. Bryce asking me out on a date just after I'd kissed Jesse.

Oh God. What if he thought I was some type of slut? A girl who juggles two boyfriends at once for kicks.

I was considering bashing my head against the dashboard to curse my stupidity, but was saved from giving myself a severe headache by Jesse entering the car.

As I'd predicted, he didn't say a word, only turning up the radio in a pathetic attempt to cover up our awkward silence.

When the third Paul Slater song in a row - honestly, he's not even that good of a singer. He's famous, why exactly? - came on I hastily switched it back off, willing to risk the silence.

The bright city lights of Los Angeles had just come into view when I plucked up enough courage to speak.

"I'm not a slut, or anything." I told him, twisting my head around to look at him. "Really not."

I watched Jesse's hands clenched around the wheel.

"I never said you were." He spoke through gritted teeth.

"I know." I shrugged, returning my attention to the windscreen. "Just thought you should know"

Jesse nodded and continued driving in silence.

"And I'm not going out with Bryce or anything." This time I refused to look over at him. "It was just to say sorry. You know, for this."

I gestured to my nose helplessly.

We were nearing my hotel now.

"Really?" He asked, allowing a hint of hope catch in his voice.

"Really." I smiled. "He's just a friend. I have my eye on someone else."

Jesse let out a whoosh of breath before laughing awkwardly.

"Thank God." He admitted softly. "I was ready to overwork Bryce tomorrow, just so that he'd be too tired not to make it on your date."

I gasped in mock-outrage, bringing a hand up to slap Jesse lightly on his shoulder.

"Mr. De Silva!" I scolded.

He chuckled guiltily.

"Sorry, Miss Simon," he countered. "I had to do something to keep you two apart."

He parked in front of my hotel, switching off the engine and turning to look at me in the eyes, showing me how serious he was about everything.

I almost swooned at the practically possessive look in his eyes.

"If you want to do something …" I began.

"Yes?"

"Kiss me."

Jesse smirked.

"Of course."

He cupped his hand around my cheek, idly stroking the skin nearest my temple with one finger as he brought me closer to his lips, capturing them with a fierce intensity. I brought my hands up to run through his dark, curly hair.

"I should go." I spoke in between kisses. "Rehearsal tomorrow."

"You don't have to go," he responded, equally preoccupied. "You're injured."

"It still gives me a chance to see you, though."

I kissed him fully on his lips until he pulled back with a smirk.

"Good plan." He congratulated.

I nodded, kissing him one last time before wrenching myself away and out of the car.

"Good night!" I called through his open window, blowing him a kiss.

"See you tomorrow." He responded, catching my kiss before blowing one of his own.

I giggle as I brought my hand up to catch the kiss and put it in my pocket.

I felt like a pre-teen with her first crush. You know, after the stage where boys had 'cooties' but before things started getting serious. Though I had a feeling that this was going to be _very_ serious.

Waving, I turned and walked into the hotel waiting to hear the sound of Jesse's car as he pulled away from the curb.

The same beautiful receptionist from before was still sitting at the desk obviously having witnessed mine and Jesse's goodbyes. Her mouth was open in shock, an emery board poised at the tip of her nail ready to start filing.

I smiled at her and shrugged in a 'what can you do' kind of way before turning and slipping into the first elevator I could see - that was open, or course.

Hardly noticing the elevator had stopped, or that I had already unlocked the door to my hotel room, I suddenly found myself collapsed on my bed, still on a high from Jesse's kisses - that little misunderstanding in between totally didn't count as part of the night, as far as I was concerned, it never happened.

A flash of white by the hotel room door caught my eye, and I went over to examine it. It was a piece of paper. I shook my head when I read what was on it in Gina's handwriting.

'_Remember, call me the second you get in._

_-Gina. Xxx'_

I glanced at the clock. Quarter to eleven. It could wait until morning.

Scrunching up the note, I threw it in the bin as I crawled under the covers, still clothed in my dance sweats - I had another set, don't worry.

It wasn't long before I fell asleep, my dreams reliving the events of the night, and the possibilities of tomorrow.


	7. Chapter Seven

**A.N - So, so sorry for the delay in posting this. School started again, as readers of Te Amo, Querida know. Plus, my mum said that she'd ban me from fanfiction if I fell behind on my schoolwork - as there is a hell of a lot. So, my reasoning is, better a late update than none at all. Right?**

**Hope you like this anyway. I promise that we'll be moving on with plot soon.**

* * *

_**Suze Simon's To-Do List :**_

_1. Face the wrath of Gina._

_2. Try not to drool over Jesse during rehearsal._

_3. Do not freak out._

_4.. Welcome Jake to the wonderful city of Los Angeles._

**Chapter Seven**

Groaning, I wrapped the pillow around my head, trying to block out the sound of banging coming from my hotel door. It was way too early to deal with visitors.

"Suze!" Gina's voice called loudly, carrying from the hallway all the way through to my bedroom. "Get your skinny ass to this door and tell me about last night. Right now!"

"Go away!" I called back groggily. The pounding that continued on the door told me that she either hadn't heard me, or was just ignoring me.

Giving in, I crawled out of bed and blearily wondered towards the door, blinking the sleep out of my eyes and running my fingers through my hair before I opened it.

Gina's hand was poised to knock when the door swung open. She didn't hesitate though, instead walking straight into my room, flicking her purple streaked hair as she did so.

"I'm going to ignore the fact that you didn't call me as soon as you got in last night, even though I waited up until two for you to do so." She told me. "Instead, I'm getting my payback now, by waking you up at seven."

I gawked at her. Seven? In the morning?

"But that means that you only had five hours sleep!" I protested.

"I'm fine." She shrugged. "Besides, I want to hear all about it."

I rolled my eyes at her.

"Gina," I began. "It was just a dance rehearsal."

"A dance rehearsal with only you and the hot choreographer." She interrupted. "And, I'm guessing he took Bryce's part of the routine? Which means he had to support you during the jump."

I nodded slowly as Gina's face broke out into a big smile.

"So, knowing you," she concluded. "There had to be lots of falling down, and lots of landing on top of Jesse's abs of steel."

I felt my face burn bright red.

"Hey!" I cried. "I _so _did not topple over!"

"Really?" She raised an eyebrow. "'Cos there's a bandage on your face which says otherwise."

I raised my hand to my bandage-covered nose and probed it gently.

"Oh, shut up."

Gina laughed.

"I knew it!" She exclaimed, jumping on my bed before finally sitting down cross-legged. "So, details please."

I yawned loudly.

"Gina, I love you and all, but it's seven in the morning and I -" She cut me off.

"Exactly! We only have three hours until rehearsal. I need to know every little thing that happened, so that I know exactly how to act."

I opened my mouth to object.

"And I'm not leaving until you tell me."

Finally relenting, I sat opposite her on the bed and began to relay everything I could remember from last night.

--- --- ---

It turned out that Jesse had decided to overwork Bryce after all, much to Gina's, Cole's and my amusement. Even if Cole _was_ slightly confused as to why Jesse was putting Bryce through all of this, he still found it funny. Which was more than could be said for Bryce himself.

Jesse had the poor boy spinning on the floor, then jumping up to get himself in position for the next move. Each time Bryce performed it perfectly, barely even breaking a sweat, only to have Jesse bark at him.

"Again." He ordered, hiding a smirk when Bryce fell gracefully down to the floor in order to carry out Jesse's demands.

Jesse winked at me surreptitiously over Bryce's spinning form, making me smile and Gina, who had also caught the act, nudge me in the side suggestively.

"Alright," Jesse said through a chuckle. "That's enough Bryce. Good work." That last part was spoken a little begrudgingly, like Jesse didn't want Bryce to know that he'd done well.

I glared at Jesse, reminding him of what he'd promised me - mainly not to overwork Bryce. He shrugged at me sheepishly and I shook my head. It was hard to stay mad at Jesse, he was too cute, too hot, too sexy - especially when he was using his strong, muscled arms to keep me suspended in the air above him …

"Everybody, take your starting positions." I jumped up with Gina and Cole to do as Jesse had said, before he caught my arm and pulled me back gently. "Nice try, Miss Simon, but not you. Sit out and watch."

I huffed indignantly. Hadn't I showed him that I was perfectly capable of performing the routine just last night? Or if it was because he was hesitant over Bryce supporting me in the jump, then he really didn't have to be. I'd finally learnt to overcome Jesse distracting me. The one-on-one rehearsal yesterday had totally cured me of _that_.

Jesse just looked at me pointedly and I took a seat behind him, out of the rehearsal space. At least this seat gave me a perfectly good view of his back. And other things …

And from the way Jesse kept glancing at me from the corner of his eye, he knew damn well what I was doing.

Well, all's fair in love and war.

Jesse took the others through the routine, ending with the jump - which Gina and Cole had to perform as well, only they'd been doing stuff like that for years together. It was second nature for them to trust each other.

I was so distracted by my unobstructed view of Jesse, that I didn't realise that Paul Slater himself had entered the room and was sitting rather close beside me. I shied away uneasily.

He'd alerted me to his presence only when he'd applauded the end of the routine.

"I knew I'd picked the right people for this video," he stated loudly. "Only, why isn't Suze dancing, Jesse?"

Hearing Paul Slater call me Suze was a bit strange. I didn't even know the guy.

"Oh, it was my own decision." I directed Paul's attention back to me. Jesse looked like he was getting angry at Paul's familiarity towards me. "Didn't want to risk hurting myself even more, you know?"

I gestured to my nose and shrugged nonchalantly.

Paul stepped closer to me and raised his hand so that it lingered over my nose.

"Yeah," he sympathised. "I saw you rush through the studio yesterday. Kelly and I were worried."

Kelly? My nose wrinkled in confusion for a second before realisation hit me. Ah, Kelly Prescott. The Princess of Pop to Paul's Prince. Figured they'd be together. They match so perfectly its untrue. For one, they both think that they can sing when they _so_ can't.

"Well, if you need any extra rehearsals with a partner who'll care more about your safety…" He glanced over at Bryce who had performed the routine by himself - it wasn't hard to come reach the conclusion that he was my partner. He shuffled uncomfortably when he felt Paul's gaze on him. "I'm here for you."

I stepped away from him.

"Thanks for the offer." I smiled at Paul, whilst keeping my eye on Jesse so that he wouldn't do anything stupid and get fired. His fists were clenched up at his sides and he looked about ready to attack. "But I'm alright for the routine."

"Really?" Paul asked not taking the hint and stepping closer to me yet again. "Want to give me a private showing?"

_Ew_. This guy gave me the creeps.

"I'm busy later." I stuttered trying not to give Jesse a reason to throw a punch. I could feel the gazes of everybody in the room on me. Including the ghostly one of Josefina who had appeared shortly after Paul had made his presence known to me. "My Step-Brother's coming to town."

I saw Gina smile dreamily. Not that she'd admit to it later.

"Alright." He finally realised that I was trying to get away from him and stepped backwards. I let out a whoosh of air as Jesse's face started to return to its normal colour. "I get it. I'll see it soon enough, I suppose. You guys begin rehearsal with me next week."

There was nods of agreement from my fellow dancers as Jesse remained statue-still as he glared at Paul. Paul raised an eyebrow in return.

"Keep up the good work."

They were Paul's parting words to us as he let the door slam shut behind him.

"Alright guys," Jesse sighed. "Let's call a break. Be back here in an hour."

I began packing up my stuff together.

"Susannah?" Jesse inquired of me. "A word please?"

I smiled to myself.

"Sure. Go on ahead Gina. I'll catch you up."

She winked at me and left with the two boys.

"Another rehearsal?" Jesse asked me, unaware of the smile adorning his sister's face as he wrapped his arms around my waist, his hands resting on my hips. "Tonight? Same time at your hotel?"

He punctuated his question with a kiss.

"Mmm," I shook off the haze he'd put me into. "Can't. My step-brother really is coming into town. Gina thought it would be a good idea to call them when I visited the emergency room."

Jesse pouted before trailing kisses up the column of my throat.

"Get away from them?" He asked, distracting me.

"Jesse, I'd love to. But I really can't. Tomorrow?" I asked.

"There's a group rehearsal."

"Cancel it. We can spend the whole day together. Alone." I smiled up at him.

"I like the sound of that. Alright." He agreed. "But, bring your bathing suit."

He finally let me out of his grip.

"Why?" I asked as I picked up my bag again.

"We're going to practise the jump again." He told me.

I span around to look at him.

"I know it, Jesse! Besides, that needs a bathing suit?"

He shrugged in faux-innocence.

"It does if you want to practise in a lake, like I plan on doing."

My eyes widened as I realised what he was saying. Practising the jump in a lake? How totally _Dirty Dancing_! How could I say no?

I nodded at him excitedly as I tore out of the room, blowing him a kiss before I left. Jesse laughed and Josefina waved at me happily. I nodded in her direction when Jesse's eyes were shut.

"Bye Jesse!" I called.

"See you in an hour, querida."

--- --- ---

The second rehearsal passed by pretty ordinarily. Jesse, of course, made me sit out and watch again. He was just being ridiculous now. He knew I could do the routine without hurting myself, he just didn't want me to dance with Bryce. I was going to have to practise with him sooner or later.

I was considering arranging that date with him after all, just to get Jesse to see that I meant business. But I wasn't that cruel.

It ended, as was becoming custom, with a few stolen kisses from Jesse.

"Tomorrow?" He asked. "Outside of your hotel at ten?"

"It's a date."

Jesse smiled and kissed me again.

"That it is."

We kissed once more before pulling apart and Jesse let me go and meet Jake.

Not that I could concentrate. It didn't matter anyway, after Jake had torn into the hotel's parking lot in his brand-new Camaro, all of his attention had been focused on Gina. He'd only looked at me briefly, nodding at my nose-cast and saying only one word :

"Ouch."

I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks." I muttered sarcastically to myself.

Gina raised an eyebrow at me before returning to - ew - kissing Jake. I _really _didn't see his appeal.

Well, they could spend all day tomorrow together if they wished. I don't care. I have a date with Jesse. Though I could have had another one tonight if I'd known that Gina and Jake had planned on spending all of their time together kissing - there was no way I was going to be witness to that.


	8. Chapter Eight

**A.N - Again, sorry for the late update. I'm trying my best to get them out as quick as I possibly can. Next weekend's going to be a bit tight for updates as well - seeing as I'm busy both Saturday and Sunday.**

**So, I'm sorry in advance for the delay. I hope you like this chapter mind. I liked writing it. xD**

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_**Suze Simon's To-Do List :**_

_1. Dance in the Lake._

_2. Listen to Jesse._

_3. Try not to snap at Gina for the interruption._

**Chapter Eight**

"Are you ready?"

"Please. I was born ready."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded with a massive smile on my face.

"Okay. Ready, Set." Jesse laced his fingers with mine. "Jump!"

Laughing, we both ran towards the lake near Jesse's family's house and jumped together landing in the cold water with a splash.

Jesse resurfaced first, pulling me gently up by our attached hands. I resurfaced with a shiver.

"Wow." My teeth chattered. "Cold."

Jesse smiled.

"I warned you." He pulled me closer to him, his hands running up and down my arms to try and warm them up.

"Uh-huh." I agreed, kicking my legs to remain floating whilst trying to warm up. I was _so _glad that I'd kept my shorts on. "So, what now?"

Jesse kissed me quickly.

"Now," he announced, pulling away from me and making me pout. "We dance."

I laughed outright.

"Dance?" Jesse nodded. "How?"

He rolled his eyes at me.

"Susannah, you've been dancing for a good few years now - almost a decade?"

"Longer." I told him.

"Exactly. You should know how to dance by now."

I slapped his bare chest - yes, I know. I about screamed when he stripped off his shirt earlier - and swam a little bit away from him.

"I know how to dance." I told him. "But not how to dance in water."

Jesse smirked and swam further away from me.

"Try it." He called.

"I trust you." I called back.

A blinding smile broke out on his face and I couldn't help but smile in return.

Readying myself, I swam the short distance between us before jumping up into his arms. He caught me, as I knew he would, and then turned me around to face where the camera would be during the shoot. I'd like to say that it was a _Dirty Dancing _type scene, but it was more _Bring It On_.

He held me up for a long time, proving his strength, or it could just be to annoy me. It can get kind of scary remaining suspended in the air.

"Jesse!" I shouted at him. "Let me down."

I heard him chuckle.

"Nah," he protested. "I kind of like this."

"Jesse! I'm serious!"

I started to squirm in his hands wanting him to bring me down. All I succeeded in doing was making him lose his balance.

He slipped on something on the lake floor and fell backwards, letting go of me as he did so, pushing me forwards into the water.

I was greeted with the icy stab of the water I'd only just gotten used to - thanks to Jesse deciding to keep me out of it for so long.

Keeping my eyes shut, I pushed myself towards the surface, my chest burning in an effort to keep my breath. Finally, I surfaced with a splutter, coughing a little bit as I did so.

The surface of the lake was deadly still. And Jesse was nowhere to be seen.

"Very funny, Jesse." I called to the empty lake. I'd seen people do this type of thing in movies all the time. "You can come out now."

Another thirty seconds passed and my fear grew. Surely he couldn't hold his breath for that long? I struggled during my own trip under the water. What if he'd slipped and hit his head? He could be unconscious under there.

Gasping in a huge breath I dived under the water again, opening my eyes and searching frantically for any sign of Jesse. It was no use, the water was too dirty to see anything more than five centimetres away from me.

I felt something grab hold of my shoulder from above and I opened my mouth to scream, letting water rush into it. I was jerked upwards to the surface again.

"Don't you ever do that, Susannah!" I heard Jesse's voice scold me as I spat out the water that filled my mouth. "Don't every try to be a hero like that."

I coughed up the last of the water, my eyes watering with the burn of it against my throat.

"Excuse me?" I finally demanded of Jesse.

He looked at me disparagingly.

"Even if I had hit my head, you shouldn't have tried to help me." He told me. "You should have swam to shore, ran to the house and dialled for an ambulance."

"You would have died!" I protested.

Jesse's hands banded around my upper arms as he pulled me towards him for a bruising kiss - not that I was complaining much.

"And that's no reason for you to die too." He told me sadly. "I've been the reason for someone's death before, querida. I would hate to be the reason for your death as well."

I felt tears well up in my eyes as he reminded me of Josefina, even if he didn't know it.

"Jesse," I kissed him softly. "I wasn't going to die."

"Still, you shouldn't have gone after me."

"Well, you shouldn't have stayed down there for so long!" Jesse looked sheepish. "I was scared!"

"I'm sorry, Susannah." He told me. "I don't know what I was thinking."

I bit my lip as I nodded.

"Maybe we should get out of here." I thought out loud. "Water obviously isn't the best place for us to dance."

Jesse chuckled appreciatively.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Guess not."

We walked the short distance to the grass that surrounded the lake, my toes squelching into the lake bed as we did.

"Susannah, here."

Jesse held open a huge, extremely fluffy-looking towel for me to step in to. I held it together over my shoulders and Jesse rubbed the towel on my arms, trying to create the friction to keep me warm.

"What about you?" I asked concerned.

He winked at me.

"One step ahead of you." He slipped another towel around his shoulders, blocking his chest from my gaze.

We walked back towards the house in silence, our hands linked together, carrying the bundle of our clothes in our free arms.

"Jesse?" I asked eventually. "What did you mean, 'you've been the reason for someone's death before?'"

He sighed deeply and squeezed my hand before letting go and opening the kitchen back door.

"Get changed," he whispered, his eyes falling shut. "Then I'll tell you."

"If it's too painful, or something, you don't have to tell me."

"No, it's okay." He opened his eyes and brought them round to look at me intensely. "You should know."

I nodded quietly, pulling on my white tank top before pulling a red hoodie on top of that. It was cold out. I dressed slowly, wanting to give Jesse the time to collect his thoughts, or change his mind.

When I couldn't get away with stalling any longer, I walked into the front room, where Jesse had started up a fire in the old fireplace.

"Jesse?" I asked softly, not wanting to disturb him.

"She was my sister."

Recognition dawned on me. Josefina. She appeared behind Jesse, looking at him sadly. I walked over to Jesse and sat next to him, wrapping my arm around his waist in comfort.

"She died two years ago in a car accident."

I nodded without saying a word. I already knew that part; Josefina had told me.

"I was driving," Jesse continued, his eyes staring into a blank space in front of him, obviously lost in the memories of that day. "It was late. We were coming back home from a ballet performance." He smiled slightly. "Josefina loved ballet.

"She'd gotten the tickets for her birthday the week before. I offered to go with her."

Jesse swallowed heavily.

"There was another car," his voice shook. "The driver ran his car straight into Josefina's side and carried on driving. The force of it killed Josefina instantly and sent the car spiralling off the road. It smashed into a lamppost and knocked me out.

"When I woke up, I was in hospital." He took a deep breath. "Josefina was dead and I'd been in a comatose state for a few weeks. My mom and dad were devastated. Josefina died, and it was all my fault."

I glanced over at the ghost who was openly crying for her brother. She was shaking her head silently.

"No." She whispered. "It's not his fault. It's not your fault, Jesse."

"It's not your fault, Jesse." I repeated, partly for Josefina's benefit, mostly because I felt it too. "How could it have been?"

He turned away from me.

"It is." He insisted. "I was driving. I'd bought her the ballet tickets. I drove home a different way to what I normally would have done because I wanted to be there sooner. If only I had just …"

He trailed off.

I jumped up and stood in front of Jesse, kneeling down until we were eye level.

"No Jesse." I repeated. "It wasn't you're fault. It was the driver's. Did they ever catch the person?"

"No." He said quietly. "Never."

I felt my heart break for him. He'd been through so much. And then earlier, back at the lake, when he'd resurfaced and I hadn't been there …

I shivered. I can't imagine what he must have felt.

"Josefina died," he whispered. "And all I was left with was this scar."

He gestured to the scar that cut through his eyebrow. The one I'd wondered about many a time, but didn't dare to ask him.

"Listen to me Jesse," I took his head in my hands and forced him to look at me. "It's not your fault. And the sooner you accept that, the sooner you can move on."

He was silent for a while before nodding.

"Yeah, you're right." He smiled.

"Well, yeah." I joked.

"Thank you."

And then he kissed me. A slow, languid kiss that felt oh-so-good. His hands tangled in my hair as I moved to sit on his lap.

But then, annoying invention that it was, my phone rang.

"Ignore it." Jesse pulled me back in for another breathtaking kiss.

"Mmm, I can't."

I wrenched myself away from his lips and search for my phone. It stopped ringing.

"Oh well," I turned back to Jesse who had a big grin on his face, even if his eyes did betray some of the sadness that still lingered within him. "If it's important, they can ring back."

The cell phone rang again and Jesse pulled away with a sigh.

"I guess it was important."

I nodded and looked for my phone again. I found it in time and answered it, bringing the phone up to my ear.

"Hello?" My greeting was short and screamed how angry I was for the interruption.

"Sorry to interrupt your Jesse-smooches, Suze," Gina's voice boomed down the line. "But there's been an accident."

My face paled, thoughts of Jesse's story racing to the forefront of my mind.

"Who?" I whispered.

"Bryce," she replied sadly. "Jake and him decided to go surfing today - being typical Californians, I'm thinking." I could practically see her roll her eyes. "Anyway, there was a particularly bad wave which Bryce decided to try and surf."

Jesse was looking at me in concern, squeezing my hand in silent support.

"What happened?" I asked.

"He was thrown off his board. Landed pretty painfully." She replied. "He broke his leg."

"What?!" I demanded.

"What?" Jesse asked. "What is it?"

I ignored him and talked to Gina instead.

"What are we supposed to do?" I asked her.

"I was hoping you could talk to our choreographer for that," she countered. "And seeing as you're with him right now …"

"Right." I nodded, even though she couldn't see me. "I'll do that. I'll call you later."

She hung up and I flipped my phone shut, my eyes closing as well.

"Susannah?" Jesse asked. "What happened?"

"Bryce." I sighed as Jesse clenched his teeth in anger. "Oh, no. Not like that. I'm with you, now. I was never with Bryce!"

I hastened to calm him down.

"Then what is it?" He asked.

"He broke his leg." I told Jesse. "Which means he can't do the shoot because he'll be in a cast for six weeks. Which means I don't have a partner."

Jesse laughed.

"That's it?" He asked incredulously. "Really? That's why you were so upset?"

I nodded slowly.

"Querida, _I _can be your dance partner for the video." He drew me into his arms and kissed the top of my head. "After all, I know the routine already."


	9. Chapter Nine

**A.N - I'm not even going to apologise for the lateness of this chapter - It's apalling, I don't deserve forgiveness. I deserve to be shot.**

**On the plus side, yay an update. A long(ish) action-packed chapter that you may or may not find believable.**

**And, I'm going to London on Saturday. To see RENT. And it was my birthday on Tuesday. Been an amazing week. Thanks to everyone who made it so.**

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_**Suze Simon's To-Do List :**_

_1. Try not to wring Paul Slater's neck._

_2. Keep Calm._

_3. Try not to scream._

**Chapter Nine**

"_CUT!"_

The voice of the video director blared around the studio as he shouted down into his megaphone.

Jesse dropped me slowly to the ground from our finishing position and squeezed my hand tightly when he saw how angry I was. Well, you'd be angry too if you were _trying _to perform a routine flawlessly on film and you end up having to stop for the twelfth time in an hour.

Paul was having some trouble lip-syncing.

I wasn't the only one getting annoyed. Apparently so was the director. And Jesse, Gina, Cole and even Jake, who came to cheer on Gina. It's not like this was a closed set. Anyone, except the press, were invited to watch **the **Paul Slater in action.

Could you get any more egotistical?

Jesse kissed each of my knuckles lightly, his fingers linked with mine.

"I know, querida," he whispered into my neck. "That's just Paul."

I giggled quietly and looked up in time to see Paul look away with a strange look on his face.

"Alright," the director sighed. "From the top. Again."

A loud noise boomed once before the studio fell silent and a red light came on, showing that the camera was on.

The now-familiar beat of the song started up again as we took our positions, ready for the camera to pan round to us.

"_Yeah, yeah girl, when I saw your feet, walking along down that long, wide street_."

Suppressing my usual cringe at the words, I fell easily into the routine I'd perfected weeks ago.

This time we hadn't even reached the chorus before the director yelled 'CUT!' angrily. I felt a small growl forming in my throat.

"Querida." Jesse warned softly, kissing me.

"Paul, baby, you seem distracted." I was pulled away from my kiss with Jesse by a familiar whiney voice. Kelly Prescott. "You don't normally perform so badly."

I hid my face in the crook of Jesse's shoulder to hide my laughter. I don't think she meant for it to sound that way.

"Is it the dancers?" She continued, ignoring the sniggers from around the room. "Because, if I was wearing what she was," she pointedly looked in my direction. "I'd get kind of distracted too."

Hey! It's not like I chose to wear this short, gold skirt and tacky, barely-there top. That was all Paul.

"No, Kelly," Paul pushed past her to go into his trailer. "It's not the outfits. But it is the dancer."

His last comment was clearly heard by everybody. The question was, which dancer was he talking about?

Kelly rounded a glare on the four of us.

"Whichever one of you it is that's got him like this," she warned. "Stop it. I'll not have you ruining his career and making me look bad because of it. Got it?"

We nodded dumbly as she turned on her heels and clicked her way out of the studio, towards Paul's trailer.

"Wow." Gina whistled. "What crawled up her -"

Her sentence was interrupted by a loud crash coming from Paul's trailer. We all turned to look at it slowly, Jesse pulling me backwards into his arms and wrapping his arms around my waist.

No one moved, even when the sound of another glass smashing echoed in the studio.

"I'll go," Jesse sighed, unwrapping his arms from around my waist. "Someone has to."

"Yeah," Cole agreed laughing. "And if someone's hurt, you're a doctor, right?"

"In training." Jesse countered with his own chuckle.

Ever since Jesse had taken over as my dance partner - and Bryce was out of the picture - Jesse had been much more relaxed with everybody.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Josefina's voice came from behind me.

"What?" I whispered to her, hoping no one was watching me.

"I think that everything is going to change." She confirmed. "Soon. Look after my brother for me, would you?"

I nodded instinctively before shaking my head to clear it.

"Josefina." I began. "What do you mean?"

She just nodded her head over my shoulder, and I turned to see a very pale Jesse making his way towards me.

"We have to go, querida." He insisted. "Now."

"But," I stammered. "The video!"

"Can wait until tomorrow." He pushed. "Now, Susannah."

I allowed myself to be led out of the studio and around the back of the lot where Jesse and I was alone.

"What was all that about?" I demanded, leaning back against the big, metal studio.

My question went unanswered.

Jesse only crushed me to him in a tight hug as he kissed the junction of my neck and shoulder softly.

"It's you, Susannah." He whispered. "You're the dancer that had Paul so distracted. You and me together. He doesn't like it."

"Me?" I repeated, barely able to wrap my mind around it. I'd only ever spoken to Paul that one time after I'd nearly-broken my nose. (Which, by the way, was totally healed now. No more ugly nose-cast for me).

"Yes." He nodded in confirmation. "You. He's angry that we're together. He was talking to Kelly when I went over there, screaming at her. She had thrown the plates, Paul had a cut down his cheek. But he … He said your name, querida. He said that, and I quote, 'it was unfair that he'd brought you here, and you fell for me, and not him.'"

"Brought me here?" I repeated, again. "How? Why?"

"I don't know." Jesse insisted, the worry evident in his voice. "But we can't go back in there. He will find a way to get us apart. He is famous, in spite of his lack of ability. He has power, querida."

He kissed me again, almost like our time was running out. Well, it wasn't. And I wasn't going to let him think that.

I pulled apart from him and looked deep in to his dark, brown eyes.

"Jesse, I won't let him." I promised. "Paul Slater cannot keep us apart."

Jesse opened his mouth to say something, only to shut it in confusion when it wasn't his voice we heard.

"I think I have something to say about that."

We turned in unison to find Paul Slater standing in front of us, his cheek red with the blood that was a result from the cut Jesse had described.

"Hola, Señor De Silva." Paul greeted with a sneer.

--- --- ---

Jesse's eyes narrowed at Paul as he pushed me protectively behind him, taking on a fighting stance when I was out of Paul's line of sight.

He laughed.

"That won't work, de Silva." He criticised. "In fact, that helps me a lot."

I screamed as I felt a strong hand wrap around my arm and pull me towards a wide, broad body. Another hand clamped down on my mouth to stop the sound.

Jesse turned around, his eyes wide with fear.

"Susannah." He whispered concernedly. And, obviously deeming me the most important thing in this entire situation, he turned and started towards me.

"Ah-ah-ah." Paul chastised. "Wouldn't try that, Rico Suave."

I felt something cold press against my temple. He had a gun. Paul's goon had a gun. I saw Jesse freeze with fear. Just as I saw Paul cock back his fist behind him.

My teeth clamped down hard on the hand that was over my mouth. The man who was holding me cried out in pain as he dropped his hand from my mouth and dropped the gun he was holding.

"Jesse, watch out!" I managed to scream in warning.

Jesse turned around to see Paul's fist flying towards his jaw, ready to deal a blow that would surely knock him unconscious. Only, he managed to dodge it and instead deliver a punch to Paul's stomach that hand him bending over and gasping for breath.

With Paul otherwise occupied, Jesse ignored him and ran for me, clutching my hand tightly as we ran away from the scene behind us, Paul's goon dumbly watching us as we left.

When Paul spoke again, I wasn't so far away that I didn't hear him. He breathed out two words that sent shivers up my spine.

"After … Them."

Without wasting another second, I ran faster, hearing the heavy pounding of footsteps in the gravel behind us.

Jesse's hand was clutched in my own, both hands frozen with fear.

Jesse had been right. Josefina's prediction was right. And I was scared. All I'd wanted to do was dance.

We quickly reached Jesse's car and separated our hands in order to climb into the car. The second we did - and buckled up our seatbelts - we were racing out of the parking lot, leaving an angry gun shot and the clang of the gun falling to the ground behind us.

Jesse and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"I told you." He muttered passionately whilst his voice was laced with relief. "I told you. He wants something from you. He doesn't want us to be together."

"Why?" I demanded. "Why me? What has he got against you? Against us?"

"I don't know, querida." He admitted. "But we're safe now."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Safe."

And I believed it.

Until we heard the screech of car tyres on the road not far behind us.

--- --- ---

Jesse swerved left suddenly, causing the car to make a horrible screeching sound.

"¡Díos!" He cursed. "I was going to drive to my family's house, but I don't want them to know about it. They'll only follow us."

He said it out loud for my benefit. I could tell that he was trying to think quickly.

"So, what do we do?" I asked quietly.

Jesse looked over at me in alarm. I could see the answer written on his face.

"I'm sorry, querida." He whispered.

"It's okay." I whispered back.

He nodded quickly and pushed his foot down on the accelerator, gaining speed ridiculously fast.

We had to lose them. He was apologising for speeding, and putting me in danger. I managed a small, wry smile. My boyfriend, always the gentleman. Even in times of crisis.

I looked out the back window to see the car gaining speed almost as fast as us. Possibly faster. For the first time that day, I heard my heartbeat increase in fear.

"Jesse…" I warned him.

"I know."

His foot was as far down on the pedal as it could go, the needle on the speedometer working hard to keep above 180.

But it didn't matter.

However fast we went, Paul and his goon went faster. They'd gained on us in a matter of minutes before overtaking us and slamming to a stop in front of us.

Jesse's foot went quickly over to the break pedal, but it was too late. We were heading straight towards the now empty truck that they'd been driving.

I heard the crunch of metal, the explosion of glass and a scream - my scream.

I also heard Jesse's voice, faintly, scream my name in fear for me and not himself.

Again I let the smile form slightly.

Jesse, ever the gentleman.

A warm trickle of blood ran down my face and I heard the sound of the door wrench open and sirens in the distance before everything went black.


	10. Chapter Ten

**A.N - Sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry multiplied by however many times you feel it necessary for me to apologise to you to make up for it. Blame my English teacher - Moondancing Millie can tell you how much she hates me - she gave us two pieces of coursework to do in a month because she was ill the first month of school. It's not like it was our fault!**

**Anyway, this is a pretty crappy update, but an update nonetheless. I love that word.**

**Hope you like it, and I'll try to update faster in future. xD**

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_**Suze Simon's To-Do List :**_

_1. Ow, my head._

_2. Demand answers from Paul Slater._

_3. Hug Jesse. Hard._

**Chapter Ten**

When I came to, it was with my head pounding and the blare of a television in the background. My hair was matted to my forehead with the blood from a cut at my hairline and my head was groggy as I picked up words the television presenter was saying.

"_High speed car chase … Ambulance reached the scene within minutes …Two cars involved._"

It's a funny feeling when you realise that a stranger is broadcasting the recent events of your life to the nation at large, Well, funny enough to be found funny at least, considering the circumstances.

"_No bodies found."_

It was that fragment that forced me to snap my eyes painfully open and look around me, especially when I realised that I couldn't hear the beep of hospital monitors anywhere around me.

Wherever I was, it was dark. And silent. Save the sound of footsteps stopping in front of me.

I almost screamed when Paul Slater's face became level with mine.

"Ah!" He stated in surprise, placing a soft kiss on my cut. "Sleeping Beauty awakens."

I jolted backwards, away from him, ignoring the pain in my ribs as I did so.

"Now that's not nice," Paul chastised with a smirk as he looked at something over my shoulder.

I twisted painfully to see what had Paul's attention. My eyes widened.

"Jesse."

The name left my lips involuntarily and merely succeeded in annoying Paul Slater more. Jesse didn't hear me - he was out cold with cuts and bruises marring his face and his blood-soaked shirt clung to his chest.

The name left my lips … and Paul saw red, growling with rage as he turned and punched the wall behind him before swearing at the pain in his hand.

"What is it about him?" Paul demanded of me, causing me to cower away in fear. "Why _him_? Why not me?"

I opened my mouth to answer - though what that answer would've been, I couldn't have told you - but Paul cut me off.

"It couldn't have been because you met him first," he continued causing a frown to settle on my face. "Because you met me first."

Paul glanced over at me and froze when he saw my face.

"You don't remember." He stated more than asked me before breaking out into ironic laughter. "Of course you don't. It was only two years ago, after all."

It was only then that I realised there was nothing actually keeping me from running away. Well, besides the fact that Jesse was unconscious in the room. Slowly, trying not to hurt myself _too _much, I began to stand up.

"Do you remember," Paul began, talking to me yet not facing me, giving me an advantage over him. "Two years ago, when you were sixteen? And you were working at the Pebble Beach Resort?"

I said nothing, looking over at Paul slightly apprehensively. How did he know this? I hissed quietly in pain as I shifted my weight from one foot to another. Never again will I get into another car crash.

"Do you remember what families you worked for, Susannah?" I winced at the use of my full name. "Remember little Jack Slater?"

I froze as Paul continued.

"Yeah, he's my little brother." Paul glanced over at me from the corner of his eye, then turned away again unbothered by my attempts at movement. "He came home that summer and told me all about his babysitter Susannah Simon, so, of course, I had to find out about who had my little brother so enamoured. Imagine my surprise when I saw your picture." He paused, debating within himself for a second. "And became besotted myself."

Um, besotted? _Besotted?!_ Paul Slater was _in love_ with me?!

Ew.

And to make things worse, Jesse was coming to. He could probably hear every word that had been said.

"That's why you're here, you know." Paul continued as I rolled my eyes. I swear, this man just loved the sound of his own voice. "I researched you, and your life. You like to dance, I put you in a video. You miss your friend Gina, she comes too." He turned on me then and locked his piercing blue eyes with my own. "You want anything, I'll give it to you."

What do I say now _without _enraging my kidnapper?

"Um, thank you." My voice sounded horribly scratchy and not at all like my own. "But, I have a boyfriend."

Way to go Suze. That probably wasn't the best thing to say right now.

"Of course." His glare rounded on Jesse and stayed there. "Hector. So why is it that you like him more then? It couldn't have been that you met him first … perhaps it's his sob story?"

"Um, technically," I began, ever ignorant. "I _did _meet Jesse first."

Paul ignored me as he carried on.

"Oh, poor little Hector," Paul mock-sympathised. "His sister was killed in a hit-and-run and it was all _his _fault."

I held my breath as I realised Jesse was awake and listening to everything that Paul was saying.

"Not that he knew it, of course, but I was that driver two years ago." He grinned at me as if it was something to be proud of. "It was just after I found out about you, actually. I was heading back into Los Angeles after seeing for myself where it was you lived."

I felt cold rush through me.

It was my fault that Josefina had died. It didn't matter that Jesse had drove a different way home, that he'd bought her the ballet tickets. If Paul hadn't have heard about me, Josefina would still be alive, I'd still be in Carmel and I never would have met Jesse. _Everything _that had happened was my fault. Mine.

"No." Jesse's voice was barely a whisper. "Susannah, no."

He knew what it was that I was thinking.

"It's not your fault." He repeated, stronger. "It's like you told me, it's the driver's. It's Paul's fault."

Paul looked almost bored with the turn of events.

"Maybe," he glanced down at his fingernails. "But it's Jesse's fault that you are both here now. If he hadn't of heard Kelly and I talking, the car chase wouldn't have happened. Though, I have to say, it was quite exciting."

Jesse's face paled and he moved to stand up to comfort me, though he looked way worse then I felt.

"Ah-ah," Paul chastised, pushing Jesse back to the floor uncaring of his injuries. "You stay there."

Jesse hissed in pain and I felt tears rush to my eyes.

"Why even go to all this trouble?" I demanded of Paul. "Why couldn't you just ask me out like anybody else?"

"Because I wanted to keep you." Was his heated response. "Just 'asking you out' seemed a bit too temporary for my liking. I want you with me."

"And Jesse?" I asked. "Why did you get him involved?"

"He chose to involve himself." Paul shrugged. "I can't help that."

Glaring at Paul, I ran over to Jesse to do what I could to help him. My ribs screamed in protest as Paul grabbed me around the waist and stopped my progress, pulling me towards him.

"You don't go near him." Paul told me, fire burning in his eyes.

"Get him to hospital." I insisted. "He needs to be treated."

Paul looked hesitant to agree.

"Please."

I felt Jesse's horrified gaze on the back of my head.

"Okay." Paul agreed with a click of his fingers, and two men came to pick up Jesse and take him away.

"Susannah, I'm not leaving without you." He insisted digging his feet into the floor in protest, clenching his teeth at the pain it caused him.. "You need to be seen to just as much as I do. I can't leave you here. With him." He paused for a second. "I can't leave you with the man who killed my sister."

His words were doing nothing to stop the men escorting him out.

"I'm sorry, Jesse." I whispered, one tear falling from behind my closed eyelid.

"Yeah, Jesse." Paul wrapped his arms around me smugly, kissing the top of my head possessively. "She chose me."

I snapped my eyes open and found them locked with Jesse's pain-filled own eyes. With all my might, I tried to convey to him what I was thinking without letting Paul know.

I'll be fine, I tried to tell him. I'll find you.

The look in Jesse's eyes never changed and I knew, I just knew, that he didn't understand me. He thought I'd genuinely chosen Paul over him. I'd never felt so malicious before. Even if my intentions had been nothing but sincere.

He dropped his gaze a second before he was taken from the room and my heart dropped.

He'd given up on me.

I turned my face away.

"Well, now that _he's_ gone," Paul broke into the war between my heart and my head. "We can get you seen to. It really was a stupid idea for him to try and get away from me. He hurt you in the process."

But I'd hurt him more.

There was an other-worldly glow out of the corner of my eye and I turned to see Josefina de Silva, glaring at me with hate in her eyes.

"How could you?" She shouted at me. "How could you do that to him? For _Paul Slater_?!"

I shook my head, silently asking her to leave it for now. I felt bad enough.

But again, Paul stopped me.

"Oh yeah." He turned and stared straight at Jesse's sister. "The ghost. I was wondering when you would turn up."


	11. Chapter Eleven

**A.N - Well, if anybody is still with me on this ... I love you. xD**

**Seriously though, I'm sorry for the delay between chapters. But there isn't much left - maybe one or two. So, thanks to anybody still reading and I'll really try to get this finished before Christmas.**

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_There was an other-worldly glow out of the corner of my eye and I turned to see Josefina de Silva, glaring at me with hate in her eyes._

_"How could you?" She shouted at me. "How could you do that to him? For Paul Slater?!"_

_I shook my head, silently asking her to leave it for now. I felt bad enough._

_But again, Paul stopped me._

_"Oh yeah." He turned and stared straight at Jesse's sister. "The ghost. I was wondering when you would turn up."_

_--- --- ---_

_**Suze Simon's To-Do List:**_

_1. Get out of this mess._

_2. Find Jesse._

_3. Make sure Paul Slater never sets foot anywhere near us again._

**Chapter Eleven**

That sentence, coupled with said ghost who was screaming at me and the pain _everywhere_ – I had just survived a high speed car chase, after all – left me no choice. I burst into tears.

Paul, however, ignored me - some boyfriend he would have been – not that I wanted to go out with him. I had Jesse. At least I hoped I still did.

"Yeah, that's right," Paul continued. "I can see ghosts." He rounded his gaze on me. "And I know you can as well. Part of your appeal to me, shall we say?"

His gaze softened as he saw the state I was in and he wrapped his arms around me.

"It's okay, baby," he soothed me – or at least tried to. "I'll have her gone soon."

I pushed him away, the tears steadily cascading down my cheek, and spoke in a hoarse voice.

"I am _not _your baby." I spat. "And I want Josefina to stay."

Instead of being the slightest bit hurt – which was rather disheartening. Didn't I mean _anything_ to him? – Paul laughed wryly, spurring me to carry on talking. Which was probably one of my bigger mistakes.

"If you think, even for just one second, that I would ever choose you over Jesse, then you're wrong." I tried to make my voice as poisonous as possible.

Paul wasn't fazed.

"You know what?" He asked conversationally. "I had a feeling that was the case."

I felt myself pale.

"Which is why-" He cut himself off and grabbed my wrist painfully tight as he pulled me towards him. "- he never left."

Paul's hand gripped my cheeks and pushed my face towards a large window I had been too preoccupied to notice before now.

"He's right there," Paul assured me. "He's watching our every move whilst my two men are flanking him."

My eyes widened as I looked straight into Jesse's eyes – I could see him clearly, his hair matted with dried blood as his eyes betrayed the hurt he felt – willing him to forgive me.

"And another thing," Paul leaned down to place his lips next to my ear, the result sending shivers down my spine. "He can't hear a word spoken. Think for a minute _Susannah_, how _intimate_ do we look right now?"

I froze in Paul's arms. He was right. I was in Paul's arms, his lips at my ear with his hand cupping my cheek.

Jesse must genuinely think that I chose Paul.

My head whipped towards the window.

"Jesse!" I screamed, willing him to look up at me once again. His head had drooped to the floor. "Jesse!"

Paul laughed.

"He can't hear you." He paused, thinking. "It's like that film – 'No One Can Hear You Scream'."

Though someone, the one person both of us had forgotten about, could.

Paul was thrown away from me by superhuman strength, belonging to the girl Paul Slater had inadvertently murdered two years ago.

"Really?" She asked, her anger coming off of her in waves. "'Cos I can."

She ignored Paul the second he was unconscious on the floor and walked towards me.

"It's okay Suze." She smiled. "I know why you did that to my brother. And I'm sorry I reacted the way I did."

I smiled at her.

"Can't really blame you," I admitted. "I would have acted the same way too."

I wrapped my arms around her in a hug. It felt nice to know at least one member of the De Silva family liked me at the moment.

The thought made me glance towards the window where I'd last seen Jesse … only to find no one – I could only assume that Paul's goons had ran away in fear at the sight of their boss being thrown around by an unseen force.

I untangled myself from Josefina's arms, and ran through the twisted corridors of the place I was in – probably a warehouse of some kind, god forbid Paul Slater set up his hostages in style – desperate to try and find Jesse.

It wasn't long before I saw a door flung wide open, a spot of blood marring the dirty floor just outside of the doorway, and a head of curly hair belonging to none other then Jesse De Silva.

I screamed his name in fear – he was so _still _– as I skidded on the floor beside him, ignoring the pain in my probably broken ribs and hissing at the tenderness of my wrist from where Paul had grabbed it not five minutes ago.

His dark curls felt strangely soft under my fingers as I placed his head in my lap and checked his neck for a pulse. There was one there … but it was weak. He'd lost a lot of blood; my eyes were steadily focused on his closed eyelids to avoid the sight of his blood-drenched shirt.

"You'll be fine, Jesse," I whispered to him, kissing his forehead as I gently rested his head against the floor again. "I promise you."

I turned my head slightly to find Josefina standing over her brother protectively.

"Could you find my cell phone?" I asked her quietly. "It has to be here somewhere – we can call an ambulance."

Josefina nodded and disappeared leaving me alone in an empty store room with the unconscious body of my boyfriend – or, at least, he used to be.

I'd never thought that my once-in-a-lifetime chance of coming to LA and dancing for a celebrity would end up like _this_. The whole thing was just so surreal. I'd came to Los Angeles to dance – to feel free and powerful, like I could do anything – and, as luck may have it, I found Jesse, the most perfect gentleman this side of the Pacific Ocean. The man I loved.

Yeah, that's right. I love him. I, Susannah Simon, love Jesse De Silva.

"I love you." I whispered.

Only he was a bit too unconscious to reply with anything right now.

The wooden floorboards creaked behind me.

"Aw," Paul Slater mocked me. "How disgusting."

I stood slowly and turned to face him, a cold look on my face as I saw his hand come up to self-consciously soothe the bruise Josefina had created on his head.

"Just what, exactly," I asked, "is your problem?"

Paul looked ready to explode, his tanned cheeks darkening to a bright red with fury.

"He is!" Paul thundered. "Jesse De Silva is my problem!"

I shrugged.

"Sorry, I'm afraid he can't help you with that." I smirked as Josefina appeared behind him. "But I know someone who can."

Paul was on the floor in the next second, trapped by the chair Josefina had made pin him down.

"His sister."

She smiled triumphantly and threw my cell phone to me, which I caught easily and immediately began dialling 911.

"Hello, emergency services," a nasal-voiced woman greeted me. "What is your emergency?"

"We need an ambulance, desperately," I begged her. "And the police."

"Please state your location and -"

The voice was cut off as my cell phone was taken from my hand and snapped in the larger hands of one Paul Slater.

"Josefina -" I gasped.

"- is no longer with us." Paul finished. "It's such a shame too, she was such a pretty girl."

Jesse groaned deeply as he slowly came to – though not loud enough for Paul to hear. At this point in time I could only hope that Paul kept his attention on me – Jesse didn't deserve to be punished any more for liking me.

"Guess it's just you and me now, baby." Paul drawled. "Who's going to save you now?"

I have _such _bad luck.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**A.N - Yeah, so much for this being finished before Christmas. Sorry about that. I hope you all had happy holidays, depending on what you celebrate. And a wicked new year. Happy 2008 guys.**

**May it be filled with quicker updates :P**

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_**Suze Simon's To-Do List:**_

_1. Distract Paul Slater._

_2. Help Jesse._

_3. Sleep._

**Chapter Twelve**

In spite of my bad luck - I mean, honestly, who else could get themselves into a situation like this? - I decided to brave my chances, and took small steps away from Jesse De Silva's rapidly-gaining-consciousness form. I wanted Paul's attention on me, not Jesse.

"I guess so," I muttered in response to Paul's earlier statement.

Though I couldn't answer the '_who's going to save you now_' part.

"You know," he continued with his cool façade almost conversationally. "If you had just agreed to go out with me in the first place -"

"You never asked me." I cut him off. There was no way that he was going to blame _all_ of this on me. Nuh-uh. It's his fault too.

He merely rolled his eyes.

"Did I have to?" He countered. "I'm Paul Slater! I'm worth millions of dollars. The least you could have done is show me a bit of attention. After all the work I went through to get you here in the first place."

"I'm sorry," I had successfully gotten his attention away from Jesse and focused on me as I'd edged away from the unconscious man. "I don't date crazy, egotistical maniacs."

I shrugged apologetically and raised my leg to offer a hard kick to Paul's ribs, in the hope of winding him at the very least. I was relying on my dancer's balance at the moment.

Feeling my leg sail through the air, I could almost let myself believe that I _was_ dancing. The freedom of moving because you wanted to, not because you had to get anywhere. I loved that feeling.

With a hard smack as my leg was caught in the ever-ready hands of Paul Slater, I was brought back to earth with a jolt.

"Fool me once, shame on you," he muttered, his blue eyes burning me in their anger. He yanked my foot towards him and pulled me out of balance. "Fool me twice -" I fell to the floor, my head smacking against the concrete with a heavy _thud_. "Shame on me."

Which was funny, because I didn't remember shaming Paul Slater a first time. Although, that could be the headache talking.

"Susannah!" I heard a male voice gasp and, even through my fuzzy state, I would tell who it was. I would know that voice anywhere. Only I couldn't help but curse his timing.

"Ah, _Rico Suave_ awakes." He paused. "Again. You know, I'm starting to think it would be better to just kill you."

Oh, no he didn't. Paul Slater did not just_ threaten_ my boyfriend and expect to get away with it. Dizzily, I stood up, ready to fight him, again. Hopefully with better results then last time.

"Well, I'm thinking not." I replied. Paul rounded his attention on me once more and groaned.

"I'm also hoping that you will stop this soon, as well Suze." He walked towards me, cupping my face in his hand. "I hate hurting you. But you leave me no choice."

"Susannah, no!"

Jesse's shout reached me just as my eyes caught up with the fact that Paul had picked up a sharp piece of … something that had been lying on the floor. Damn this warehouse. I couldn't tell if it was wood, or metal, only that it was sharp enough to hurt.

With Jesse's warning still ringing in my ears, I dodged to the side, the makeshift-weapon grazing my hip, as I cocked back my fist and hooked Paul Slater's head as hard as I could.

He was out like a light.

I collapsed on my knees the second that we were safe.

"Susannah!" Jesse physically forced himself over to me. I could see the strain on his face as he fought against the pain of the broken bones in his ribs. "Querida, you're bleeding."

His hand came to probe my side, checking for whatever it is doctors-in-training check for and I couldn't find it in myself to care whether or not I was hurt.

Jesse was okay, moving at least - which meant not dead - and he'd called me 'querida' - though I had yet to find out what that meant.

"I'm fine, Jesse." I whispered, gently pushing his attention up towards my face. "Just fine."

His big, brown eyes looked up at me as his fear for the situation we'd just gotten through leaked into them.

Without a thought for either of our comfort, we simultaneously moved towards each other and kissed thoroughly, needing the reassurance of each other's safety. His hand came to tangle in my hair as my own hands moved gently over his back, ghosting along his spine.

We broke apart only when needing to breathe.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Jesse." I whispered to him, whilst forcing myself to stand up. I wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible.

It seemed Jesse shared my opinion, judging by his own movements.

"Same," he replied coolly, causing a smile to stretch across my face. "I saw your head hit the floor, and it was the longest moments of my life before your eyes opened again."

"I was out?" I wondered. "For how long?"

"Oh, hours, at least." He replied, both of us having stood up as he entwined his fingers with my own and pulled me as close to his side as possible. It was only then that I realised just how much blood was leaking out of the cut Paul had recently provided me with. "Though probably only a few seconds - a minute at the most."

Together, we made our way outside of the building, only to find it covered with the flashing red and blue lights of the emergency services. I almost collapsed in relief. They had found us.

It was really, truly, over. The ordeal we'd been put through. It was over.

And, now, I wanted nothing more then to go to sleep with Jesse at my side.

Only, as it turned out, the paramedics rushed over to us, and separated us, forcing us to separate ambulances as they looked over our many injuries.

I heard the voices of many reporters retelling my day's events outside the warehouse as two paramedics moved quickly around me, bandaging my side and treating to the many cuts I'd sustained.

"What about Jesse?" I asked them, elaborating at the confused looks on their faces. "Where is he? The man I was with. Is he okay?"

"He has to be treated immediately." One of the men informed me, both of them continuing with the work. "He'll be taken straight to the hospital."

My eyes widened.

"Can I go with him?" I asked.

"You're on your way there yourself, Miss. You've received some pretty bad injuries as well."

"But -"

"He's already gone."

Admitting defeat, I allowed the men to continue their job, strapping me to a stretcher as the ambulance sped away towards the hospital. I felt the stab of a needle as the paramedics injected me with morphine, to stop the pain, then remembered nothing else as my eyes drooped shut in exhaustion.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"_Oh, Jake! I think she's waking up."_

"_About time too."_

"_Hey! Be nice. Suze went through something pretty traumatic. She's not going to want to talk about it for a while."_

"_Well, she'll have to. The police are just waiting to talk to her about everything. They can't get anything from De Silva for at least another few days."_

It was the last statement that finally caused my eyes to snap open.

"Jesse?" I asked immediately. "Where is he? Is he okay?"

"Suze," Gina was the one to talk to me first. "Jesse's fine. He's just a bit out of it right now. They had to really pump those painkillers into him."

"Where is he?" I asked again.

"Chill, Suze." Jake. "He's right over there."

I followed Jake's finger to find Jesse lying still on the bed next to mine. There were bruises covering his face as he lay prone still, his tanned face a severe contrast to the stiff white sheets surrounding him.

"Jesse…" I whispered.

"He's fine Suze." It was Cee Cee who talked this time, leaving Adam as the only silent one so far. "Trust me. He'll wake up soon. Wow. I guess you really do care about him."

My eyes remained on Jesse's prone body, guilt wracking me at the thought of everything being my fault. Stupid Paul Slater.

"I do." I whispered. "I love him."

His chest moved up and down evenly with his breathing and I smiled at the sight, finally believing that he was really okay.

"And Paul?" I asked them. "What happened to him?"

"He's in custody. They brought him here for a brief check-up and waited until he was released before taking him straight to the big house." Finally, Adam spoke. "Where I hope he'll stay for doing this to my best friend."

I smiled at him.

"Thanks Adam."

"Though the police will want your statement pretty soon. Probably before Jesse wakes up," Gina added. "So that you don't have to chance to, I don't know, confirm each others, or whatever."

"Thanks guys." I mumbled, feeling tiredness consume me once again.

It was either the morphine, or the events of the day catching up with me. Either way I was beat.

"I'm just going to sleep again now."

Their laughter filled the room.

"Sure, Suze.

"Goodnight!"

Their various goodbye's were lost to me as I shut my eyes and fell into a blissful unconsciousness.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**A.N - Hey guys, I know it's probably the worst idea for me right now, but I plan on posting a new story on Wednesday, in time for Ash Wednesday. I would like Em to help me with titles, considering the effort i went through to get your English coursework ;) Really, ask Maz.**

**Keep in mind internet is down so text? If you have cred.**

**Two more days and i'll have msn back! Wooo.**

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_**Suze Simon's To-Do List:**_

_1. ----_

_2. ----_

_3. ----_

_Apparently, you don't have anything to do when you're stuck in hospital._

**Chapter Thirteen**

I'd grown so tired of looking at these bright, white walls. I mean, sure, people brought me flowers daily - the area around my bed was practically a garden - meaning that splashes of colour were seen. But, really, the only thing you could see in this place was those damn white walls.

We'd been here for two days already, Jesse and me. The police had already come to take my statement and Jesse had yet to wake up.

I told the police everything. _Everything_. From when I babysat little Jack Slater right up till the moment that help arrived in the warehouse place.

How _predictable_ can you get. I mean, really? Paul Slater is worth a cool two million, at least, yet he decided to take a leaf out of every bad villain ever created within Hollywood and hold us hostage at a _warehouse._

Damn, cheap, pop star.

The door creaked open and a pretty, young nurse walked in, her heels _click-clicking_ along the floor. She glanced at me briefly and, upon seeing I was awake, offered me a sympathetic smile which I returned half-heartedly.

It had been agony, the past two days, not being able to hear Jesse's voice or look into his deep, brown eyes. Not to mention having to go without his kisses.

Each time I woke up - which was quite a few, there was really nothing better to do then sleep. The room didn't even have a television - I felt my hopes rise at the thought of seeing Jesse watching me, waiting for me. It wasn't long before my hopes were dashed every time.

Jesse didn't deserve to be put through all of this, it was all my fault. And Paul Slater's of course.

I'd be lucky if Jesse even spoke to me after this.

I shut my eyes and looked away as the nurse exited again, cringing as I felt a single tear escape from my closed lid.

It just wasn't _fair!_ Jesse was hurt more than me, and for what? For liking me as more than a friend. I know nobody said that life was fair, and all that_ - _that's a saying everybody grows up with - but for Jesse it should be. He's been through so much, too much.

The tears remained relentless, always there.

"Suze?" The first time somebody uttered my name, I ignored them, hoping they would go away and leave me to my misery. "Suze!"

I recognised the voice, of course I did. It was distinctly female and yet … it wasn't quite as familiar to me as it should've been, had the voice belonged to Gina, or Cee Cee.

"Susannah!"

The third time Josefina sounded so like her brother that I had to wrench my eyelids open and gasp in shock.

"Josefina!" The tears continued, but this time out of happiness. "I thought something had happened … with Paul …"

Her ghostly presence wringed her hands together and shook her head softly, curls falling over her eyes.

"I thought he was …" She paused briefly, before taking a deep, if unneeded, breath and continuing. "I didn't know what he was doing I just knew that if he went through with it, I might never come back."

I nodded sympathetically.

"And I wanted to stay. I wanted to make sure that Jesse …" She trailed off and walked over to her brother. "Is there anything I can do, do you reckon?"

I watched silently as she raised her hand and trailed it down her brothers arm to his hand and linking their fingers together. Or at least trying to. His heart rate jumped slightly, judging by the slight increase on his heart monitor.

I smiled, in spite of myself, when Josefina turned away, frustrated.

"Suze, could you do me a favour?"

I nodded quickly.

"Of course," I hastened to acquiesce. "You've done so much for me, after all. It would be the least I could do."

"Could you tell Jesse, not to blame himself anymore?" She began. "Tell him from me, he might believe it more then. And also, tell him that I miss him. Please?"

She turned watery eyes towards me, the darkness pleading with me to agree.

"I promise."

"Talking to yourself now querida?" Both Josefina and myself turned to look at the owner of the new voice. "If I had known you'd go crazy, I'd have woken up sooner."

A smile spread across my face as, ever mindful of the IV attached to my arm, I jumped out of my bed and hurried to Jesse's side.

"Hey," he greeted deeply, weakly raising a hand and cupping my cheek.

"Hey," I returned. "You're awake."

"I am."

Then he raised his head and kissed me and let me just take this opportunity to say how much I've missed these - and how damn good a kisser Jesse De Silva really is.

Regretfully, I pulled away, remembering his weakened state. Seeing the look on his face, I giggled and kissed him hastily on the lips once more before pulling away again.

I saw Josefina smiling at the two of us from the corner of my eye and I resolved myself to pass on her message.

"Jesse, this may sound completely strange, and freaky, and the like, but, Josefina is here." I braced myself for his reaction, expecting it to be negative, when instead I saw him smile.

"Is she?" He asked. "Really?"

I nodded and pointed towards where she stood at the foot of his bed.

"She's there."

Jesse moved his gaze to where I had pointed, squinting at the empty room.

"Hey, Josie." He whispered.

"She says, and I quote, 'Howdy, Dog Chow.'"

Jesse's laughter filled the room as he raised his hand to the scar through his eyebrow.

"This is a result of Josefina's brand-new puppy getting a bit angry at the thought of someone taking the attention away from him." He explained for my benefit, causing a cheesy grin to spread across my face.

"She says for you to not blame yourself anymore, Jesse," I repeated. "For her death. You have to know it was Paul's fault by now."

He sighed deeply.

"I know. It _was_ his fault, not mine," Jesse squeezed my hand tightly. "And to think that he tried to take you away from me as well."

"Calm, Jesse."

He smiled at me.

"She misses you."

Jesse's eyes watered as he looked back towards his sister.

"I miss her too."

She smiled and thanked me as tears cascaded down her cheeks whilst her form began to shimmer. Josefina de Silva had moved on. At last.

"She's gone." I whispered to Jesse.

"Then what are you still doing on the floor?" He teased. "Come up here, with me."

He moved along the bed making more then enough room for me to join him and I did, enjoying the feel of his warm, strong embrace wrapped around me.

I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"How come you were so understanding?" I asked him. "Of my 'gift'."

He shrugged a little, and smiled at me.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He stole a kiss back from me. "It would be slightly hypocritical of me if I wasn't."

I pulled away from him slightly to look at his face as I asked him my next question.

"What do you mean?"

His smile grew broader.

"Josefina was a mediator too."


	14. Curtain Call

**A.N - Yeah, so this is the end. I apologise for the delays in posting towards the end there. And I apologise for the writing style of this chapter - I really don't know what happened to me. I think I turned into a nine year old girl or something.**

**Hehe. Hope you like. Thanks for everyone who supported this story over the past few months! One WIP down, 4 (?) to go**

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_**Suze Simon's To-Do List:**_

_1. Visit my gorgeous boyfriend's new apartment, not two blocks from my college dorm room._

_2. Watch and cringe at Paul Slater's music video - starring me._

_3. Live happily ever after._

**Curtain Call**

_**-- Three Months Later --**_

Another boring day at college had ended blissfully in my boyfriend's arms.

I loved having his arms wrapped tightly around me, it made me feel so protected.

A week after Josefina's moving on - which still brings tears to my eyes whenever I think about it - Jesse was released from the hospital, having made a full recovery, quickly. I had had to stay another two days, which was totally unfair to me; I so received less injuries than he did - he was unconscious for way longer.

His family had travelled to the hospital to help discharge him. Seriously. The entire De Silva clan swarmed our hospital room.

I saw instantly that Jesse had his mother's dark curly hair, but his father's features.

His sisters were beautiful. I can't even begin to describe them all.

I was lonely after he'd gone. We'd spent that week together, joking, chatting and flirting and even, occasionally, kissing, whenever we thought we could risk it.

It wasn't long, however, before he was back, having showered - his hair was still wet - and changed his clothes. He smiled widely at me as he pulled up a chair and teased me, mercilessly, about being stuck in a bed.

"But," he sighed, somewhat dramatically. "I suppose, it's better that one of us is a visitor now."

"Really?" I asked uninterestedly - I wasn't much happy with all the teasing. "And why's that?"

"Because it makes it much easier for us to do this."

And he leaned over and placed his lips on top of mine, his large, rough hands cupping my cheeks.

"Do you agree?" He whispered when we'd pulled apart.

"Definitely."

I grinned and then twisted my hand behind his neck, pulling him back towards me to kiss some more.

And that, my friends, was the beginning of a be-yoo-tee-full relationship.

Fast forwards three months and we were still together, both in school and both exhausted from a long terms work. Thank God there was a long weekend coming up.

Four whole days off to sit around and eat turkey.

Oh, and, you know, doing the whole family thing.

I love Thanksgiving.

"Hey, querida." Jesse kissed my temple. "Guess what's number one?"

I glanced up at him sharply.

"No!"

"Yep." He picked up a remote and switched on the television, flicking towards the music channels. "There you are."

"_Fish -- That is my favourite dish!"_

The cringe-worthy words were being mimed atrociously by the star in question, all whilst Jesse and I danced the steps that were forever engraved into my mind with big smiles on our faces.

"Aww, man." I groaned into his shoulder. "Now everybody is going to see us!"

This song would be Paul Slater's last ever number one. Unless he decided to release more music when he turned fifty … somehow, I didn't see it happening.

He'd been charged with two cases of attempted murder, as well as manslaughter for the death of Josefina de Silva. The jury found him guilty and gave him two life sentences.

That's thirty whole years that I don't have to worry about Paul Slater. And by the time those thirty years are up, I'd most probably have forgotten about him.

The video flashed to Gina and Cole who looked considerably less _happy_ then I did.

Why couldn't I have stayed in Brooklyn? Then I would have the whole 'I'm-not-excited-in-the-least' look perfected.

"It's not so bad, querida." Jesse smiled at the me on the T.V. "I happen to think you look amazing."

"You have to think that, you're my boyfriend." I rolled my eyes at his lack of knowledge.

"Oh, really?" He drawled the last word.

"Yeah-huh." I nodded quickly, making us both laugh.

Jesse stood up quietly, manipulating me into a standing position in front of him.

"Well, how would you feel, if…" He took my hand and fell to one knee, staring at my hand all the while. "… I was to become your fiancé, instead?"

It was on the word 'fiancé' that he finally looked up into my eyes and I was shocked into silence.

For all of a minute.

I mean, look at him, would _you_ have said no?

He stood up and grinned happily, sliding the most beautiful ring I'd ever seen on my finger as he kissed me happily. I wouldn't have been at all surprised if he picked me up and started to spin me around until I was giddy.

I so love this man. Though I cannot believed he proposed to me with _Paul Slater_ singing in the background.

_**-- Three Years Later --**_

"May I have this dance?"

I pushed my gaze up the sleeve of the arm that had been presented to me, passing his chest and stopping when I met his eyes. They were practically sparkling as he spoke next. "Mrs De Silva?"

I stood up, smoothing down my white wedding dress, as I smiled up at my husband of two hours and placed my hand in his own.

We'd decided to wait before we got married - I was only eighteen when he'd proposed after all - but by my third year of college when Jesse was just finishing with his degree of doctor hood (okay, so I don't actually know what it is he's studying to get, degree wise. All I know is that someday, my husband will be _saving lives_ - and that is so unbelievably awesome) I decided that we needed something to get our minds off of schooling.

What better than a wedding?

_Our_ wedding.

Gina, my maid of honour, and Jake, Jesse's best man - for reasons I do not want to go into, let's just say it was a drunken stag night decision and his cousin-in-law, Diego isn't on speaking terms with him anymore - were dancing closely near to us on the dance floor.

They'd recently announced their engagement too, after Gina had stayed around California after shooting for the video wrapped making the two of them inseperable ever since.

Cee Cee and Adam were also dancing together, and I sighed at the sight happily, resting my head on my husband's shoulder.

"Happy, querida?" He whispered.

"Ecstatic." I smiled up at him. "Look at everybody together - how close they are. It's nice, you know? Everybody has someone."

"Yeah, I know."

He spinned me out of his arms and pulled me back in close.

"It's like the end of a fairytale. The bad guy is slain and the heroes end up together and kiss, of course."

His lips met mine briefly.

"Of course."

I slapped his chest lightly, leaving my hand there.

"I feel like it's time for our curtain call. We've ended happily and now we get to live -"

"Happily Ever After."

He finished my sentence for me and I poked my tongue out at him playfully.

"Exactly."


End file.
